Catherine O’Hara Remembered at the 78th Emmy Awards

When the 78th Emmy Awards rolled around, a quiet moment was set aside for one of comedy’s brightest lights – Catherine O’Hara, who passed away in January at the age of 71. The tribute was delivered by three people who, in different ways, called her “mom”: Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy.

Culkin, forever linked to O’Hara through his “Home Alone” movies, opened the segment with a grin and a few earnest words. He described his on‑screen mother as “encouraging, warm, and, of course, funny.” Then, leaning into the sentimental, he said, “She wasn’t just a wife and mother to Bo and Matthew and Luke. She was my mom. She was our mama. And by extension, she’s all of our mama.” He paused, nudging viewers to call their own mothers that night, before concluding, “Because a good mama always shows up when you need her. That’s what Catherine did.”

Next up was Annie Murphy, who played O’Hara’s daughter Alexis on Schitt’s Creek. Murphy painted a vivid picture of O’Hara’s laugh – a perpetual “yes” that invited anyone nearby to join in. She recounted a string of tiny, unexpected encounters that followed the actress’s death: a note on an Air Canada flight, a hug from a gruff gas‑station attendant, and a spontaneous “Catherine mash‑up” at a Toronto liquor store. “These moments remind me how profoundly she touched the world,” Murphy said, her voice tinged with both grief and gratitude.

Dan Levy, who portrayed O’Hara’s son David on the same show, capped the tribute. He emphasized a simple lesson he learned from her: always say yes. “Say yes to her wig, say yes to giving her space to experiment, say yes to her dinner invites and stories,” he urged, adding that those moments “will change your life.”

O’Hara’s passing was announced by her agency, CAA, noting that she died at home in Los Angeles after a brief illness. Her career, which stretched over five decades, began in Canada on the sketch‑comedy series Second City Television, a project she co‑created with future “Schitt’s Creek” collaborator Eugene Levy. That early work earned her an Emmy in 1982. From there she moved to the big screen, leaving indelible marks in movies like After Hours, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice and the first two Home Alone films.

Equally unforgettable were her turns in Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries – Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, For Your Consideration and A Mighty Wind. In each, O’Hara blended razor‑sharp satire with a warm, off‑beat humanity that made audiences feel both amused and oddly familiar.

Tonight’s Emmy salute was more than a ceremony; it was a reminder that Catherine O’Hara’s spirit lives on in the jokes she told, the characters she shaped, and the countless people who still call her “mama.”