Hearts all around the world are damaged within the wake of Catherine O’Hara’s dying. The beloved actress has died on the age of 71, her household confirmed on January 30. Identified for her dynamic, collaborative, and deliciously eccentric performances, O’Hara leaves behind a legacy of comedic roles and larger-than-life characters throughout each movie and tv.
After all, Gen X’ers and millennials (resembling this author) will agree O’Hara was a bona fide popular culture staple rising up. The Canadian-American star graced our screens generously within the ‘80s and ‘90s, making us double over with laughter in iconic movies resembling Home Alone and Beetlejuice. (The haunted dinner efficiency scene from the latter is endlessly seared into my mind, as is her more and more relatable line supply of, “If I can’t intestine this home and make it my very own, I’ll go insane and I’ll take you with me!” It might seem this former Lydia has slowly remodeled right into a Delia with age.)
The Emmy-winning comedy legend teamed up with Tim Burton quite a lot of occasions over the course of her profession, on movies such because the aforementioned Beetlejuice in addition to its sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Frankenweenie. She lent her voice to numerous different animated movies, too, together with Monster Home, The Addams Household, and The Wild Robotic, imbuing her characters with a sleek sense of empathy.
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O’Hara was additionally a frequent collaborator together with her pal Eugene Levy. The pair labored collectively on Finest in Present, For Your Consideration, and A Mighty Wind, amongst others, in addition to their hit sequence Schitt’s Creek. Talking of which, she was definitely no stranger to tv, showing in reveals like 30 Rock, Trendy Household, and most lately The Last of Us. Maybe poetically, her closing on-screen look was as herself within the 2025 documentary John Sweet: I Like Me, which celebrated her late pal and SCTV co-star.
Whereas O’Hara dazzled on display screen for many years, delivering a number of the leisure business’s most memorable characters, I imagine she’ll greatest be remembered for her palpable heat and levity. Under, uncover 5 Catherine O’Hara movies thought of important viewing, obtainable to observe at residence proper now.
Beetlejuice
Many people’ first memorable encounter with O’Hara on display screen got here in 1988, when the then-34-year-old appeared as artsy yuppie Delia Deetz, stepmother of Winona Ryder’s angst-ridden teen Lydia, in Tim Burton’s iconic horror-comedy Beetlejuice. In a movie completely stacked with larger-than-life performances, O’Hara holds her personal — even in opposition to Michael Keaton’s scenery-chewing ghoul — stealing every scene she is in with all of the drama of a narcissistic artist trapped in suburban hell. O’Hara embraces the self-absorbed, avant-garde sculptor with out judgment, infusing a personality that might have simply been diminished to a caricature with a pure, albeit high-strung attraction, leading to a long-lasting (and, to some, aspirational) fan-favorite.
Beetlejuice is on the market to stream by way of VOD on Amazon Prime Video. Its sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, is streaming on HBO Max.
Ready for Guffman
Sheila Albertson, the Missouri journey agent with Hollywood goals regardless of a transparent lack of expertise, is undoubtedly the standout character from 1996’s mockumentary Ready for Guffman, which follows a bunch of smalltown would-be thespians as they placed on a musical at their neighborhood theater. O’Hara performs the deluded Sheila with believably determined ambition and hilariously cringeworthy cornball power. Her unhinged chemistry with Fred Willard, who performs Sheila’s equally deluded husband Ron, solely provides to an already glorious efficiency. Their comedy as a pair whipped up by delusions of small-town stardom is basically improvised, and the scene during which the married pair carry out “Midnight on the Oasis” is breathtakingly, tear-inducingly humorous. O’Hara offers it her all from begin to end, and he or she makes no apologies for it.
Ready for Guffman is on the market to stream by way of VOD on Amazon Prime Video.
House Alone
House Alone is Macaulay Culkin’s film, little question, however O’Hara is definitely an important ingredient to the movie’s generational influence. As Kevin McCallister’s mother Kate, O’Hara injects what may have been a essential however unremarkable position with emotional weight, sudden levity, and acquainted heat. Although Kevin feels dismissed and unheard within the chaos of his massive household, his bond with Kate is the center of the 1990 movie, and Kate’s mom-guilt is heartbreakingly palpable when she realizes they’ve left Kevin behind. She’s a pressure to be reckoned with as a mom determined to reunite together with her baby, and when she tells the airport gate agent she’s going to get again to her son even “if I’ve to promote my soul to the satan himself,” we firmly imagine her. Plus, her temporary interactions with John Sweet are comedy gold; for a quick second, their chemistry takes middle stage.
House Alone is on the market to stream by way of subscription on Disney+.
Finest in Present
O’Hara delivers considered one of her extra outrageous character performances as middle-class canine present coach Cookie Fleck within the cult 2000 mockumentary Finest in Present. Alongside Eugene Levy, who performs her husband Gerry, O’Hara leans into the absurdity of the aggressive canine present world. As if the premise weren’t humorous sufficient, her character is outlined by uncomfortable humor. Cookie is continually and bluntly oversharing about her life, particularly with regards to her wildly promiscuous previous and plenty of former lovers, a lot to Gerry’s quiet horror. (A operating gag all through the movie is Cookie’s near-constant encounters with a string of enthusiastic, flirty previous flings.) Cookie is eccentric, chatty, high-strung, socially-awkward, and earnest, which the actress performs effortlessly, however O’Hara’s at her highest when she and Levy are bouncing off one another because the surprisingly suitable Florida couple wholly dedicated to their canine, Winky.
Finest in Present is on the market to stream by way of VOD on Amazon Prime Video.
The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas
O’Hara lent her voice to numerous animated characters throughout her 5 a long time in movie, however no vocal efficiency is extra memorable than her position as Sally in 1993’s The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas. O’Hara’s tender, lilting efficiency imbues the stressed rag doll with a way of mild power and sophisticated melancholy perceptible to even the youngest viewers. Barely breathy and melodic, Sally’s voice mirrors her fragile but resilient nature, and her heartbreak is painfully tangible when she sings “Sally’s Tune.” However O’Hara’s Sally is rarely diminished to the sum of her stitched-together components; she’s additionally mischievous and spirited, resembling when she openly medicine Dr. Finkelstein’s soup, in addition to brave and intelligent, like when she makes an attempt to rescue Santa Claus utilizing her female wiles.
The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas is on the market to stream by way of subscription on Disney+.
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