Catherine O’Hara’s cause of death revealed

Catherine O'Hara's agency previously said the actor died at her home in Los Angeles 'following a brief illness.'

Catherine O’Hara’s cause of death has been released, one week after the Canadian comedic actor died at the age of 71.

The Schitt’s Creek star died on Jan. 30 from a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as an underlying cause, according to O’Hara’s death certificate, which was obtained by Rolling Stone and People on Monday afternoon.

According to the death certificate released by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office and viewed by Global News — first secured by TMZ — O’Hara died at a Santa Monica, Calif., hospital and her body was cremated.

It’s unclear how long O’Hara had been battling cancer. Her agency, Creative Artists Agency, previously said the actor died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness,” but didn’t provide any further details at the time.

O’Hara’s career was launched with the Second City comedy group in Toronto in the 1970s. It was there that she first worked with Eugene Levy, who would become a lifelong collaborator and her Schitt’s Creek co-star. The two would be among the original cast of the sketch show SCTV, short for Second City Television.

The series, which began on Canadian TV in the 1970s and aired on NBC in the U.S., spawned a legendary group of esoteric comedians that O’Hara would work with often, including Martin Short, John Candy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis and Joe Flaherty.

She won her first Emmy for her writing on the show.

Her second, for best actress in a comedy series, came four decades later for the role of Moira Rose in Schitt’s, a career-capping triumph and the perfect personification of her comedic talents. The series, created by Levy and his son, Dan, about a wealthy family forced to live in a tiny town, would dominate the Emmys in 2020 for its sixth and final season.