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Watch: A look back at the work of Catherine O'Hara
Meryl Streep, Pedro Pascal and Ben Stiller are among celebrities to have paid tribute to Emmy-winning comedic actress Catherine O'Hara, who died on Friday aged 71.
The Canadian-born star was best known for her roles in the films Beetlejuice and Home Alone, as well as comedy TV series including Schitt's Creek and The Studio.
Streep said O'Hara brought "love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed", while The Last of Us co-star Pascal said he was "eternally grateful" to have worked with her.
Ben Stiller said it was "hard to explain the impact she had on comedy", adding that for him there was "no one better".
O'Hara died on Friday at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness, her agent told the BBC.
After starting her career in Canada's comedy scene, she turned out a series of unforgettable film performances netting her critical acclaim.
Streep, who appeared alongside O'Hara in the 1980s comedy Heartburn, described her death as "such a loss for her family and friends, and the audience she graced as friends".
Michael Keaton, who co-starred in 1988's Beetlejuice and its 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, remarked: "We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She's been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend.
"This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her."
Tim Burton, who directed both films, shared a picture of the cast of the latter film on Facebook.
"Catherine, I love you," he said. "This picture shows how much light you gave to all of us. You were a special part of my life and afterlife."
Alec Baldwin, who also starred in the film, said O'Hara possessed "a quality that was all her own" and described her as "one of the greatest comic talents in the movie business".
In his tribute, Pascal said "there is less light in my world" adding: "This lucky world that had you will keep you, always."
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Her on-screen son in holiday classics Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Macaulay Culkin, also paid an emotional tribute on Instagram.
"Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you," he wrote.
"I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I'll see you later."
O'Hara's popularity had a resurgence of late after she starred as the outlandish Moira in Schitt's Creek.
The show's co-creator Dan Levy described her as "family before she ever played my family".
He added on Instagram that he would "cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her".
His father, Eugene, who also starred in the series, had a longtime friendship with O'Hara having collaborated with her many times over a period spanning more than 50 years.
"Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today," he told Variety in a statement.
"I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship. And I will miss her."
Getty Images
O'Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, who she married in 1992, and their two sons
Alongside winning a Golden Globe award for best actress in 2021 for her role in Schitt's Creek, O'Hara was nominated for portraying ousted movie executive Patty Leigh in Seth Rogen's satirical swipe at the workings of Hollywood, The Studio, at this year's awards.
She also remains nominated at the Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards), which take place in March, for her role as Patty.
Rogen said on Friday that, when he first met O'Hara, he told her she "was the funniest person I'd ever had the pleasure of watching on screen" and that Home Alone was the film that made him want to make movies.
"Getting to work with her was a true honour," he wrote on Instagram.
O'Hara was also described as "one of the comic giants of our age" by actor and director Christopher Guest, who worked with her on four films including 2006's For Your Consideration.
His wife, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, shared a clip of O'Hara in Guest's 1996 mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, alongside the caption "BEST OF THE BEST IN SHOW", a reference to the title of one of his later films that also starred O'Hara.
Fellow Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers - of Austin Powers and Shrek fame - described her death as "a very sad day for comedy and for Canada".
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described her as a "beloved Canadian icon", while the country's current leader Mark Carney said it had "lost a legend".
O'Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, her sons Matthew and Luke, and her six siblings.
