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She portrayed a spoiled socialite turned impoverished rural motel manager in “Schitt’s Creek.” She played a self-centered stepmom who, when possessed by an evil entity, channeled Harry Belafonte’s voice singing “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” in 1988’s “Beetlejuice.” She was the harried, forgetful mom who left her son behind in “Home Alone,” a goofy ‘90s comedy that would become a Christmas classic.
Catherine O’Hara, who died Friday at the age of 71, brought to life dozens of characters over her 50-year career across film and television, and no two of her performances were alike. She might play an eccentric artist one moment, an insufferable snob the next, then a deceptively “normal” housewife, animating each with their own personality, quirks and ticks.
Though a comedic performer at heart, O’Hara, as they say, had range. From her recurring role as a grieving therapist in Season 2 of HBO’s dystopian drama “The Last of Us” to voicing and acting a plethora of bizarre characters in Tim Burton‘s films, O’Hara made her mark. Here are 10 of her most memorable roles.
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‘SCTV,’ Lola Heatherton (1976-1984)
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O’Hara started out on the Canadian sketch TV show “SCTV,” a series similar to “SNL” but nicer because it was Canadian. There, O’Hara forged iconic, recurring characters that supercharged the show. They included the melodramatic performer and actress Lola Heatherton, a Spandex-clad lounge singer known for her manic performances. When overwhelmed with emotion, which she was often, she would scream, “I wanna bear all your children!” to audiences. O’Hara was part of a cast that included Eugene Levy, who she’d end up working with throughout her career. She won awards for her work on the show, including an Emmy, and won over audiences with her impressions of Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Meryl Streep.
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‘After Hours,’ Gail, the ice cream truck lady (1985)
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Midtown office worker Paul (Griffin Dunne) just wants to get home after a date gone awry in lower Manhattan, but he can’t seem to escape the area’s artist lofts and seedy clubs thanks to an obstacle course of peculiar characters and insane circumstances. Gail (O’Hara) seems normal in comparison to everyone else — and she has a working phone. But beneath her benign exterior, she’s deeply weird and paranoid. In the end, Gail mistakes Paul for a burglar and sends a mob of angry neighbors after him.
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‘Beetlejuice,’ Delia Deetz (1988)
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In Tim Burton’s breakthrough film, O’Hara played tragically hip Delia Deetz, the pretentious and self-absorbed stepmother of Winona Ryder’s Lydia. After the family relocates to Connecticut from New York, Delia can’t help but turn their quaint, historical home into a gaudy spectacle full of terrible, modern-gothic artwork. But it’s a scene scored to “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” that has gone down as one of film’s best comedic song-and-dance numbers. Delia is possessed by a ghoul who makes her sing the Caribbean number in the voice of Belafonte while she gyrates with her mortified dinner guests.
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‘Home Alone,’ Kate McCallister (1990)
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O’Hara is probably best known to generations of Americans who came of age in the 1990s thanks to her role as suburban mother Kate McCallister. Kate accidentally leaves her young son (Macaulay Culkin) at home while she and the rest of the family embark on a vacation. The boy then finds all sorts of creative ways to fend off robbers, while Mom melts down once she realizes they left him behind. It’s the closest O’Hara gets to playing the straight man, if a straight man was a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
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‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’ Sally (1993)
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We never saw O’Hara here, but we heard her as the voice of Sally, Jack Skellington’s stitched-together love interest. In their world of Halloween town, she was the only resident who seemed to have an eye for beauty, and an understanding that the spirit of Christmas could not be duplicated. Forlorn but oddly hopeful, Sally became the film’s most empathetic character, thanks in part to the depth that O’Hara lent to the sort-of animated rag doll.
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‘Waiting For Guffman,’ Sheila Albertson (1996)
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Community theater lends itself to comedy, even if it’s a drama playing out onstage. In “Waiting For Guffman,” a film written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, O’Hara portrays Sheila, a woman who wears several hats. A travel agent and community theater actor, she and a few residents in the small city of Blaine, Mo., plan to put on a musical chronicling the town’s 150-year history. It will be titled “Red, White and Blaine.” O’Hara sinks into the role, embracing the inherent clumsiness of community theater while celebrating its flaws.
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‘Best in Show,’ Cookie Fleck (2000)
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O’Hara became a staple in Christopher Guest’s ensemble mockumentaries, which also included “For Your Consideration.” “Best in Show” is set inside the competitive world of dog shows and follows a handful of stage parents who enter their pampered canines in competitions around the country. Cookie Fleck and her nerdy husband, Gerry (Levy), are the underdogs of the lot. He has two left feet (literally) and she’s overcoming a shady past (she’s also way out of his league). But they share a deep love for Norwich Terriers, and have named theirs Winky. But on the show circuit, Cookie keeps running into past sexual partners. “I’ve banged a lot of waitresses in my day, but you, you, you were the best,” says one of the men. “You don’t forget the best,” says Cookie.
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‘Temple Grandin,’ Aunt Ann (2010)
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HBO’s biopic about the autistic animal rights activist, Temple Grandin (Claire Daines), featured O’Hara in the role of Ann, Grandin’s supportive aunt. It was a bold casting choice given O’Hara’s strong comedy background, but she had already proved her versatility in at least one TV drama, HBO’s early prestige series “Six Feet Under.” O’Hara received critical accolades and an Emmy nomination for supporting actress in a miniseries or movie for her work in the film.
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‘Schitt’s Creek,’ Moira Rose (2015-2020)
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It may have seemed like history repeating itself when “Schitt’s Creek” premiered in 2015 and O’Hara was once again playing the wife to Eugene Levy’s character. But the comedy series represented a new chapter in O’Hara’s career, where she found success and critical accolades in a leading role on TV. The colorful Moira Rose was a city socialite and former soap opera star before her family’s fortune turned and they wound up living in “the sticks,” surrounded by simple folk. O’Hara created a perfectly hilarious monster in Moira, from her absurdly over-the-top wardrobe and wigs to her open disdain for their new life. The series earned O’Hara her first Emmy for actress in a comedy.
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‘The Studio,’ Patty Leigh (2025)
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Seth Rogan’s love-hate letter to Hollywood features O’Hara playing Patty Leigh, a powerful studio head who is ousted and replaced with her underling, Matt Remick (Rogan). Once Remick’s mentor, she now views him as an usurper. But despite the bruising of her sizable ego, there are still deals to be made, so she keeps Matt close, dispensing all sorts of questionable advice from her billion-dollar hilltop home. In this Apple TV series, O’Hara nails the fickle, chaotic and nonsensical churn of the industry through her intense character, who is based on the former Sony Picture Entertainment head, Amy Pascal.
The post Catherine O’Hara remembered in 10 indelible roles appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
