Catherine O’Hara, the iconic Emmy-winning actress known for Beetlejuice films and Home Alone, died on Friday, January 30, 2026, at the age of 71. She passed away at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to a statement from her agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), she died following a “brief illness.” While an official cause of death has not been publicly disclosed, O’Hara had previously spoken about having situs inversus (or dextrocardia), a rare congenital condition where internal organs are mirrored from their normal positions.
O’Hara made lightning strike twice in her career with indelible cinematic turns. In 1988’s spooky satire Beetlejuice, she played Delia Deetz, who led her possessed dinner guests in an enthralling song and dance performance of Day-O (the Banana Boat song).
Two years later, in Home Alone, her panicked scream of “Kevin!” as she realizes her mischievous eight-year-old son had been left behind during their Christmas holiday is among the most memorable moments from one of the most successful film comedies ever. Her young co-star Macaulay Culkin, now 45, paid tribute to his on-screen mother on Friday, sharing images of the two of them from the film and in later years: “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Catherine O’Hara famously joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) for Season 6 in 1981 but quit after just one week, before appearing in a single episode. She was hired during a mid-season transition when Dick Ebersol took over as producer from Jean Doumanian. While rumors often claimed she was “scared off” by a harsh production meeting with head writer Michael O’Donoghue, O’Hara clarified in 2024 that her primary reason was loyalty.
Shortly after she accepted the SNL job, her previous show, SCTV, was unexpectedly picked up for another run on NBC. O’Hara felt she needed to be with her “comedy family” and resigned from SNL to return to the Canadian troupe. After her departure, her high school friend Robin Duke was hired to fill the vacant slot. Although she never joined the cast, she eventually returned to Studio 8H to host the show twice in the early 1990s (April 13, 1991, and October 31, 1992).
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