Catherine O’Hara’s cause of death confirmed
Catherine O’Hara. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
The cause of death of Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone actress Catherine O’Hara has been revealed.
The two-time Emmy award winner died aged 71, hours after being taken to a Los Angeles hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties at her home in Brentwood, LA.
According to the actress’s death certificate, released on 9 February by the Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office, she died from a pulmonary embolism.
A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot which blocks a blood vessel in a person’s lungs. Symptoms can include a sudden difficulty breathing, chest pain that worsens when breathing in and coughing up blood, per the NHS.
O’Hara’s death certificate also lists rectal cancer as an underlying, long-term cause of her death.
BBC News reports that O’Hara had begun receiving treatment for rectal cancer in March 2025.
Since news of her death spread, the entertainment industry has been awash with tributes from her co-stars and fellow acting titans.
Pedro Pascal, who worked with O’Hara on one of her last screen roles in HBO’s The Last of Us, said he was “eternally grateful” to have been her screen partner.
“Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always. Always,” he wrote on Instagram, alongside a behind the scenes photo of the pair hugging.
Dan Levy, who played O’Hara’s on screen son in comedy Schitt’s Creek, wrote on Instagram that he would “cherish” the memories he made with her.
“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years,” he wrote. Schitt’s Creek was on screen for five seasons and 81 episodes between 2015 and 2020.
“Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad [actor Eugene Levy], Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it,” Levy continued.
“I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.”
Eugene Levy, who first worked with O’Hara on her first screen role in Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television, said in a statement at the time of Canadian-American actress’s death that words seemed “inadequate to express the loss” he was feeling.
“I had the honour of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over 50 years,” he said.
“From our beginnings on theSecond 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.”
It’s expected that Catherine O’Hara’s family will host a private memorial service to remember her life.
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