The actress Catherine O’Hara, who died Friday, conjured up comedy wherever she went, as an at-wit’s-end mom in “Home Alone,” a quirky former soap opera star on “Schitt’s Creek,” a core member of director Christopher Guest’s repertory ensemble and a go-to guest star in pretty much any funny TV show in recent decades (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “30 Rock,” “Modern Family,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” the list goes on). Here are some of our favorite O’Hara roles.
‘Home Alone’ (1990)
In November, when my kids saw “Home Alone” for the first time, it was my first viewing in decades. As I did at their age, my children identified with smart-alecky, resourceful Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin. I, meanwhile, have become a mom, so I can now appreciate the perfect authenticity O’Hara brought to the role of Kate McCallister. She nailed the exhausted annoyance, especially the side-eyeing don’t-you-dare look she gives her son when he claims he wants to get rid of his family. But it’s her softer side that showed her true brilliance: When she finally realizes what she forgot back at home and screams “Kevin!” she does it with such sudden desperation that I found myself gobsmacked during a moment that used to make me laugh. At the end — after multiple flights and a long ride in the back of a moving truck with Polka King John Candy — she finally makes it home to her boy. She stands in the entryway and gasps when she sees him, her eyes pleading, Please forgive me. By that point, I was weeping, and not even a 7-year-old high on slapstick comedy could deny the power of the scene; I looked over to find my son was crying, too. — Stephanie Merry
‘Waiting for Guffman’ (1996)
In “Waiting for Guffman,” Guest’s mockumentary set in Blaine, Missouri, about an amateur musical production celebrating its 150th anniversary, O’Hara plays a travel agent with asymmetrical bangs who fancies herself and her husband (Fred Willard) a theatrically gifted duo. Their audition scene, a hilarious, awkwardly choreographed performance of “Midnight at the Oasis” in which they wear ’90s-era tracksuits, mime, synchronously snap and half-off-key sing, is well-known. But the most memorable scene for me has always been the dinner at a Chinese restaurant with another couple (Eugene Levy and Linda Kash). As the meal gets underway, O’Hara’s character gets progressively more inebriated and starts asking very intimate questions. No one did movie-drunk quite like she did. — Olga Massov
‘Best in Show’ (2000)
Nearly every scene in this Guest mockumentary is laugh-out-loud funny, but only one contains the earworm “God Loves a Terrier,” an outlandish ditty Cookie (O’Hara) and Gerry Fleck (Levy) perform for their beloved competition pup, Winky, ahead of a prestigious dog show. O’Hara sports a contagious smile as she harmonizes with Levy, a co-star with whom she frequently created magic. They continue to play off each other’s frenetic energy when the Flecks run into several of Cookie’s exes, with O’Hara, a master of physical comedy, exaggeratedly batting off their flattery in every encounter. — Sonia Rao
‘A Mighty Wind’ (2003)
In Guest’s mockumentary appreciation of 1960s American folk music, O’Hara plays the autoharp (Guest said she learned the instrument for the project) and a central role in the will-they-won’t-they narrative opposite, once again, Levy. The pair are a once-beloved and once-in-love duo who must perform their big classic, but the number always ended with a kiss — a scenario that sparks much of the film’s narrative tension. The song, “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” was so effective it was nominated for an Oscar. (The pair played it in character at the 2004 awards ceremony.) O’Hara brought a tenderness and dose of reality that comes through in tiny moments, like her body language of not knowing whether to hug Levy’s character upon seeing him for the first time in years. — Ben Brasch
‘Schitt’s Creek’ (2015)
O’Hara endeared herself to a new generation of fans in the 2010s as Moira Rose, an aging soap opera diva who’ll allow nothing to stand in the way of her return to glory — including her children, her husband and the impoverished titular predicament in which they all find themselves. Played by a lesser actress, Moira’s prickly demeanor, self-aggrandizing antics and deeply weird pronunciations of ordinary words could have grated on audiences. But it’s a testament to O’Hara’s ingrained likability that Moira, with her fantastical wardrobe and immense collection of wigs, instead became an instant icon. — Ashley Fetters Maloy
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