Legendary Actress Catherine O'Hara, Star of "Home Alone" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Passes Away at Age 71

The actress passed away following a brief illness.

Legendary actress Catherine O'Hara, who among her many roles is known for appearing in the first two Home Alone movies and voicing Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas, has passed away at the age of 71.

Catherine O'Hara passed away in her home following a brief illness on Friday, January 30, as confirmed to Variety by her manager.

Born on March 4, 1954, the Canadian-American actress got her start in the comedy field, appearing in the iconic Canadian sketch show SCTV. From there, she went on to appear in a number of films in the 1980s, including Martin Scorsese's After Hours and Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (a role which she reprised in the 2024 sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice).

Some of O'Hara's most iconic roles in the 1990s came from the world of Disney, specifically as Kate McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (from then 20th Century Fox) and voicing both Sally and Shock in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Back in 2002, O'Hara appeared at an event at Disneyland where she talked about her role in The Nightmare Before Christmas. She also had a role as Texie Garcia in the infamous 1990 film Dick Tracy.

More Disney roles followed, including once again for Tim Burton in his feature length version of Frankenweenie, where she had three different roles – as Susan Frankenstein, "Weird Girl" and "Gym Teacher." Other Disney voice appearances include Brother Bear 2, Chicken Little, Sofia the First, and recently in Pixar's Elemental as Brook Ripple.

Younger readers might best know O'Hara from her iconic stint in the Canadian comedy series Schitt's Creek, where she played the hilarious Moira Rose – the matriarch of the Rose family – alongside Eugene and Dan Levy. While not a Disney show, they certainly put the show's popularity to good use in 2020 when they recruited O'Hara and Eugene Levy to narrate the latest version of EPCOT's Canada CircleVision show – Canada: Far and Wide.

Just last year, she appeared in Apple TV's succesful series The Studio as a storied Hollywood executive who was shoved aside by her studio. The second season of the Seth Rogen comedy recently began filming.

O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch and sons Matthew and Luke, along with siblings Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O‘Hara, Tom O’Hara, Patricia Wallice. Our thoughts go out to Catherine O'Hara's family and loved ones at this time.