Macaulay Culkin mourns ‘Home Alone’ mom Catherine O’Hara
Macaulay Culkin paid tribute to his “Home Alone” co-star Catherine O’Hara following her death at age 71.
O’Hara died Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, her agency CAA confirmed. Following the news, Culkin mourned his movie mom on social media.
“Mama. I thought we had time,” the actor wrote. “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you.”
“I heard you. But I had so much more to say,” he continued. “I love you. I’ll see you later.”
O’Hara played the frazzled yet fierce Kate McCallister, mother to quick-witted troublemaker Kevin McCallister, in the iconic “Home Alone” (1990) and its sequel “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992). The films launched Culkin to fame and have become bona fide Christmas classics, whose emotional core lies in the palpable chemistry between Culkin and O’Hara.
The pair reunited in 2023, when O’Hara honored Culkin at the latter’s Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony, praising the “sweet, yet twisted, yet totally relatable sense of humor” that helped him survive his early launch into the spotlight.
“The reason families all over the world can’t let a year go by without watching and loving ‘Home Alone’ together is because of Macaulay Culkin,” O’Hara said in her speech.
“Thank you for including me — your fake mom who left you home alone not once, but twice — to share in this happy occasion,” she said. “I’m so proud of you.”
News of O’Hara’s death brought tributes from the actor’s film and TV industry peers, including her collaborators from over the years.
Dan Levy, who co-created and co-starred in “Schitt’s Creek” with his father, Eugene Levy, said his TV mom was “extended family before she ever played my family.”
“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years. Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.”
Eugene Levy reflected on his five-decade-long relationship with O’Hara.
“Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today. I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty years,” Levy said in a statement. “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. And I will miss her. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.”
Seth Rogen, who recently teamed up with O’Hara on the Emmy-winning comedy “The Studio,” said in an Instagram post that she was among his earliest inspirations.
“I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen,” Rogen said, citing “Home Alone” as “the movie that made me want to make movies.”
“Getting to work with her was a true honour,” the actor, who co-created, directed and stars in the series, continued. “She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it.”
Other members of “The Studio” crew also honored their late co-star.
Ike Barinholtz, who plays chaotic executive Sal Saperstein in “The Studio,” captioned an Instagram photo of him and O’Hara: “I never in a million years thought I would get to work with Catherine O’Hara let alone become friends with her.”
“So profoundly sad she’s somewhere else now,” Barinholtz added. “So incredibly grateful I got to spend the time I did with her.”
Ron Howard, who made a guest appearance as himself in the show, called O’Hara “a wonderful person, artist and collaborator.”
“I was lucky enough to direct, produce and act in projects with her and she was simply growing more brilliant with each year,” the filmmaker wrote Friday on X. O’Hara appeared in Howard’s 1992 dramedy “The Paper.”
O’Hara’s “Beetlejuice” co-star Michael Keaton also mourned the late actor, tracing their relationship back to well before the beloved Tim Burton movie.
“She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend,” Keaton wrote on Instagram. “This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.”
Justin Theroux, who joined O’Hara in 2024’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” also wrote on Instagram, “Oh Catherine. You will be so missed.”
Burton himself memorialized O’Hara with a cast photo from the “Beetlejuice” sequel.
“Catherine, I love you. This picture shows how much light you gave to all of us. You were a special part of my life and after life,” the venerated director captioned the shot on Instagram.
Martin Scorsese, who directed O’Hara in “After Hours,” said in a statement to IndieWire that her loss feels “impossible.”
“Catherine was a true comic genius, a true artist and a wonderful human being. I was blessed to be able to work with her on ‘After Hours,’ and I’m going to miss her presence and her artistry. We all are,” he said.
“Home Alone” director Chris Columbus said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter that he was “heartbroken, along with the rest of the world,” upon learning O’Hara had died.
“I was an obsessive fan of Catherine’s brilliant comedic work on ‘SCTV’ and was thrilled when she agreed to play Kevin’s mom in ‘Home Alone,’ ” Columbus said.
“What most people don’t realize is that Catherine carries the weight of 50% of that film. The movie simply would not work without her extraordinary performance. Catherine grounds the picture with a profound emotional depth,” he added. “I will miss her greatly. Yet there is a small sense of comfort, realizing that two of the finest human beings I’ve ever known, Catherine and John Candy, are together again, brilliantly improvising, making each other laugh.”
Meryl Streep, who acted with O’Hara in the romantic comedy “Heartburn,” said in a statement to the Associated Press that O’Hara “brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed.”
Andrea Martin told the outlet that her fellow “SCTV” cast member “is and will always be the greatest. It is an honor to have called her my friend.”
Pedro Pascal, who worked with O’Hara on the sophomore season of “The Last of Us,” said on Instagram that he was thankful the two crossed paths.
“Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful,” Pascal said. “There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.”
Melanie Lynskey, who featured in the first season of “The Last of Us,” called O’Hara “the pinnacle of greatness” in her own social media salute.
“So grateful I got to tell her what she meant to me- how she inspired me, shaped my sense of humour and understanding of the work we do,” Lynskey wrote.
“I’m sure every actor she met told her similar things. She did not behave as though she’d heard it a million times, she listened and accepted it with grace and wit and tremendous kindness,” the Emmy nominee added.
Lynskey recalled interacting with O’Hara at a 2013 Live Read of “Glengarry Glen Ross” and while filming Sam Mendes’ 2009 romantic comedy “Away We Go.”
During both stints, Lynskey said, “I saw [O’Hara] be nothing short of wonderful to every single person she encountered, from the director to the PAs.”
“When people say someone ‘lit up a room,’ this is what they mean,” she said.
“The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin said on Instagram, “I think [O’Hara] would prefer that we keep laughing somehow, or at the very least not cry. Not possible at the moment.”
Others in the industry hailed O’Hara as a generational actor who shined in everything she touched.
“Catherine O’Hara changed how so many of us understand comedy and humanity. From the chaos and heart of ‘Home Alone’ to the unforgettable precision of Moira Rose in ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ she created characters we’ll rewatch again and again,” Kevin Nealon, who, alongside O’Hara, led the claymation sitcom “Glenn Martin, DDS,” wrote on X.
Josh Gad, who worked with O’Hara on the animated comedy series “Central Park,” expressed his disbelief at her death on Instagram.
“Why is the world such a heart breaking place right now? I truly cannot process how to say goodbye to someone so full of life who seemed to just be hitting her prime,” Gad said.
“Goodbye legend. Thank you for making us laugh until we hurt… which is why right now we are all hurting so damned much knowing we will never again get those laughs,” the “Frozen” voice actor added.
“Only one Catherine O’Hara, and now none. Heartbreaking,” echoed actor-comedian Michael McKean, who worked with the late actor on the mockumentaries “Best in Show,” “For Your Consideration,” “Waiting for Guffman” and “A Mighty Wind.”
O’Hara’s fellow “Bartok the Magnificent” voice actor Hank Azaria called her death “a profound loss.”
“Comedy will never be the same without Catherine O’Hara. An inspiration to us all, especially little Bartok,” Azaria captioned a social media clip featuring O’Hara’s character, Ludmilla, in the animated film.
Rita Wilson in an Instagram tribute called her “a woman who was authentic and truthful in all she did.”
“You saw it in her work, if you knew her you saw it in her life, and you saw it in her family,” the actor and singer said, offering condolences to O’Hara’s husband, Bo Welch, and their two children.
As Ellen DeGeneres put it on Instagram, “Sending love to all who adored her, which might just be everyone.”
Actor and professional wrestler Paul Walter Hauser called O’Hara “my Meryl Streep.”
“I could watch her in anything. Didn’t matter how good or bad the film or show was. I wanted to see what she would do,” Hauser wrote on Instagram, citing the actor’s work in “After Hours,” “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show,” among other projects.
“A freaking angel just went home to Heaven. And she’s not home alone,” he wrote.
