In a 911 dispatch audio clip obtained by the Daily Mail, the words “difficulty breathing” crackle through the line. For fans of Catherine O’Hara, the phrase lands like a punch.
According to the outlet, first responders were rushed to the comedy icon’s Los Angeles home after that call. Within hours, the 71-year-old star was gone, leaving behind a stunned Hollywood, a grieving family, and generations of viewers who grew up with her on their screens.
Her final emergency, the quiet signs that something was wrong, and the powerful tributes now pouring in tell a story that is heartbreaking and strangely fitting for a performer who turned anxiety, absurdity, and love into an art form.
The Emergency at Her Los Angeles Home
The Daily Mail reports that the “Home Alone” star suffered a medical emergency at her Brentwood home in Los Angeles. Dispatch audio obtained by the outlet described O’Hara as having “difficulty breathing” before help arrived.
An official with the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed that crews were sent to the address and transported her in serious condition. “At 4:48 am we responded to a request for medical aid to that address and transported an approximately 70-year-old female in serious condition,” an LAFD spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was later declared dead. Her exact cause of death has not been made public.
A Quiet Absence From Awards Season
In hindsight, there were quiet signs that all was not well. O’Hara’s last major public appearance was at the Emmys in September 2025, where she appeared frail on the red carpet despite her trademark sparkle.
She was notably absent from the Golden Globes in January 2026, even though she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress on Television for “The Studio.” For a performer who was finally enjoying a late-career shower of awards attention, the no-show felt unusual at the time. Now it reads as a haunting final blank space in an otherwise packed calendar.
The Night Eugene Levy Made Her Cry
Only a short time before that Emmys appearance, O’Hara had basked in one of the most emotional tributes of her career. At the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025, longtime collaborator Eugene Levy presented her with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award.
On stage, the woman who could make any line reading sound fearless suddenly seemed overwhelmed. “Eugene, that’s too much. Thank you, darling,” she told him after his glowing introduction.
Then she turned to the crowd and to her friend of nearly five decades. “Darling Eugene. When I think of my happiest days in this adventure in show business, I realize most of them have been with you.”
Their creative partnership began in the 1970s on the Canadian sketch series “Second City Television,” then sprawled into a run of beloved cult classics. They co-starred in the Christopher Guest ensemble comedies “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “For Your Consideration,” trading deadpan timing and barely contained absurdity like a shared secret language.
🚨 Eugene & Dan Levy pay heartfelt tribute to Catherine O’Hara 🚨
Eugene Levy and son Dan Levy remembered their *Schitt’s Creek* co-star Catherine O’Hara in moving tributes after her death at 71. pic.twitter.com/HDCYyuFX7O
— The scoop stateside (@ScoopStateside) January 31, 2026
‘Home Alone’ Mom to Moira Rose
For many viewers, though, O’Hara will forever be a face from childhood. As Kevin McCallister’s panicked mother in the first two “Home Alone” films, she embodied every overextended parent nightmare, racing through airports, screaming his name, and somehow making guilt hilarious and real.
Other fans discovered her even earlier as Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice,” where she played a high-strung artist trying to redecorate a haunted house. The performance foreshadowed the fearless physicality and glorious vanity she would later pour into some of her wildest characters.
In the 2000s, her work with director Christopher Guest turned her into a legend among comedy devotees. In “Best in Show,” she played one half of a dog-obsessed couple whose anxious chemistry was both painfully awkward and achingly sweet. In “A Mighty Wind,” she stepped into the world of fictional folk music, sending up nostalgia even as she made it feel bittersweet.
Long before those films, the Toronto native was sharpening her timing in the trenches of sketch comedy. As part of the “SCTV” ensemble, she helped shape an entire generation of North American comedy, working alongside talents like John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Levy while creating characters that were somehow both ridiculous and grounded.
Then came the late-career phenomenon that turned her into a global favorite all over again. On “Schitt’s Creek,” O’Hara transformed former soap star Moira Rose into a capital-f Fashion icon, complete with towering wigs, impossible vocabulary, and a surprisingly raw heart. Across all 80 episodes, she made a fallen aristocrat feel fresh and strangely relatable.
The role earned her an Emmy and cemented a third act that most performers only dream of. She was named to the Order of Canada in 2017, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. In 2025, she scored a rare double awards-season recognition for appearances on “The Last of Us” and “The Studio,” proof that the industry had finally caught up to what fans already knew.
Love, Family, and a Life Off Screen
Away from the cameras, O’Hara built a quiet, enduring life with production designer Bo Welch. The pair met while working on “Beetlejuice,” then married in the early 1990s and went on to raise two sons, Matthew and Luke.
Friends and collaborators often spoke of her loyalty and warmth. In his tribute, filmmaker Ron Howard, who directed her in the newsroom dramedy “The Paper,” called news of her death “shattering news” and remembered an artist who never stopped growing.
“What a wonderful person, artist and collaborator,” he wrote. “I was lucky enough to direct, produce, and act in projects with her, and she only grew more brilliant each year. My heart goes out to Bo and family.”
How Hollywood Will Remember Catherine O’Hara
The final hours of Catherine O’Hara’s life may remain a private chapter, known fully only to her loved ones and the first responders who tried to save her. What is public and permanent is the work she left behind, from small-budget mockumentaries to blockbuster family movies and one perfectly odd little Canadian sitcom that became a global comfort show.
In the crackle of that 911 call, fans heard the terrifying vulnerability that she spent decades mining for laughs, turning panic into something they could recognize and even enjoy. Her career was a reminder that fear, pride, and embarrassment can all be raw material for joy.
For anyone who ever repeated a Moira Rose line, who watched “Home Alone” every winter, who discovered “SCTV” clips online and realized comedy could be that bizarre, her loss is deeply personal. It feels like saying goodbye to the nervous system of a shared sense of humor.
When she accepted her career achievement honor with Eugene Levy beside her, O’Hara tried to sum up what it all meant. “When I think of my happiest days in this adventure in show business,” she said, “I realize most of them have been with you.” For millions of viewers, the feeling is mutual.
