Catherine O'Hara's cause of death revealed
· Toronto Sun
Catherine O’Hara’s cause of death has been revealed.
Visit catcross.biz for more information.
TMZ reported Monday that the Canadian comic legend died of a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in the lungs, with rectal cancer listed as an underlying cause.
The Schitt’s Creek alum died at the age of 71 in Los Angeles last month after “a brief illnes s,” Variety and Deadline reported on Jan. 30.
According to her death certificate, which TMZ obtained, the two-time Emmy winner was cremated and her remains were given to her husband, Bo Welch.
O’Hara’s death shocked the entertainment world on Jan. 30 with a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department telling PEOPLE that they received a call at 4:48 a.m. and that the actress was transported to hospital “in serious condition” after suffering from “breathing difficulty.”
After getting her start as part of Second City in Toronto in the early 1970s, O’Hara went on to star in such films as Beetlejuice , After Hours and the first two Home Alone movies, in which she played the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McAlister character.
She found renewed success playing Moira Rose alongside Eugene Levy (as her onscreen husband Johnny Rose), his son Dan (David Rose) and Annie Murphy (Alexis Rose) on Schitt’s Creek , which ran for six seasons between 2015 and 2020.
Most recently she played a discarded Hollywood exec in the Apple TV series The Studio , alongside Seth Rogen.
O’Hara ‘gaunt’ but ‘upbeat’ in final public appearance
Those who saw O’Hara in one of her final public appearances at the 2025 Angel Awards in Los Angeles last October couldn’t help but notice she looked noticeably frail, according to Daily Mail .
One guest told the outlet that the actress “looked very slender,” adding, “it was noticeable.” The source described her face as “almost gaunt,” but emphasized that she still looked beautiful. “She is a striking-looking woman — and she had a touch of glam going on. She hid her figure in a bulky green pinstriped suit.”
“She seemed to be in great spirits, however, and was very friendly and upbeat and lovely,” the insider added.
Rare genetic defect
During a 2020 interview on winemaker Kathryn Hall’s Virtual Happy Hour, O’Hara revealed that she suffered from situs inversus, a rare genetic condition in which which the organs in your chest and abdomen are positioned in reverse.
“I’m a freak,” she said, according to USA Today . “I don’t even know the name because I don’t want to know the name.”
O’Hara, who learned about the condition after getting an electrocardiography test and an x-ray exam, said she strove to know as little as possible about the abnormality.
“People are gonna think I’m so ignorant not to know this, but I kind of don’t want to know, because I didn’t know before,” she said.
O’Hara remembered as ‘a wonderful person‘
Following the news of her death, tributes poured in on social media for the comedy giant.
O’Hara’s Beetlejuice co-star Michael Keaton said “this one hurts.”
“She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend … Man am I gonna miss her,” he wrote on Instagram .
Beetlejuice director Tim Burton shared his own tribute calling O’Hara “ a special part of my life and after life.”
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau called O’Hara “ a beloved Canadian icon with a rare gift for comedy and heart .”
On Instagram , Dan Levy, who co-created Schitt’s Creek with his father, Eugene, said working with O’Hara was a “gift.”
CBC Television, which produced Schitt’s Creek , called O’Hara “a beloved Canadian icon whose brilliance lit up screens and stages around the world.”
In his own statement, shared with Variety and PEOPLE , Eugene said, “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today.”
O’Hara is survived by her longtime husband Bo Welch and their two sons, Matthew, 31, and Luke, 29.