The 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone' actor passed away on January 30 at the age of 71
By Max Pilley 9th February 2026
Catherine O'Hara at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 13, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles County medical examiner has confirmed the cause of death of the legendary comic actress Catherine O’Hara.
The Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone star passed away on January 30 at the age of 71, and as revealed by TMZ earlier today (February 9), her death certificate has listed her death as being the result of a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as the underlying cause.
At the time of her passing, her manager announced that she had died at her Los Angeles home following a brief illness.
The news came as a shock to not only her fans, but many of her friends and colleagues, with O’Hara having starred in two of 2025’s most acclaimed shows – Seth Rogen’s film industry satire The Studio and the second season of survival thriller The Last Of Us.
O’Hara established herself as a regular on the legendary sketch series Second City Television in the late ‘70s and was closely associated with the films of Christopher Guest. In later life, she enjoyed a career resurgence thanks to her central role in Schitt’s Creek, the Canadian sitcom created by Dan Levy and his father Eugene.
She played Moira Rose in the show, an eccentric and flamboyant former soap opera star, and in an Instagram post, the younger Levy shared an emotional tribute to his on-screen mother.
“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years,” he said. “Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.”
In picking up a Directors Guild Award for The Studio last week, Rogen used his speech to pay tribute to O’Hara. “The best part of her is she showed that you can be an utter genius and also the nicest person in the entire world,” he said. “Every day, we work very hard to make the show good enough to warrant her time and her presence. So ultimately we would like to thank the DGA for this, but we would mostly like to thank Catherine O’Hara.”
She was also well known for playing the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McAllister in the first two Home Alone films, with Culkin saying that he “thought we had time” in a touching tribute of his own.
See a range of other tributes here.
