Catherine O'Hara's cause of death confirmed by health authorities

The comedic actor and two-time Emmy winner Catherine O'Hara died at her Los Angeles home after a brief illness, with officials listing pulmonary embolism and rectal cancer as causes of death.

Authorities have confirmed the cause of death of acclaimed actor and two-time Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara, who died at the age of 71 at her Los Angeles home on January 30 following a brief illness. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said O’Hara died due to a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as the underlying cause, as per TMZ.

O’Hara was cremated, and her remains were handed over to her husband, production designer Robert ‘Bo’ Welch. Her representatives at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) confirmed her death, stating that the illness was brief and declining to share further details regarding her health.

A towering presence in comedy and character-driven cinema, O’Hara was best known for her roles in the Home Alone films and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. Over the past decade, she enjoyed a major career resurgence, earning widespread acclaim for her Emmy-winning performance as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, along with her work on Apple TV+’s The Studio.

In 2025, O’Hara received two Emmy nominations – one for her guest appearance in HBO’s The Last of Us and another for her comedic role in The Studio, which went on to become her final television series. She had been scheduled to return for the show’s second season, which began filming in January.

Tributes poured in from across Hollywood following the news of her death. Actors and filmmakers, including Macaulay Culkin, Chris Columbus, Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz and Eugene Levy, shared messages remembering her talent and warmth.

Levy, who collaborated with O’Hara across multiple projects spanning more than five decades, said, “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today. I had the honour of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over 50 years. From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to SCTV, to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on Schitt’s Creek, I cherished our working relationship – but most of all, our friendship.”