{"id":2274627,"date":"2026-02-09T20:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2274627"},"modified":"2026-02-09T20:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:09:06","slug":"how-did-the-home-alone-actress-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-did-the-home-alone-actress-die\/","title":{"rendered":"How did the &#8216;Home Alone&#8217; actress die?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div id=\"videoWrap\" class=\"spacer-large videoWrap\" style=\"position:relative\">\n<div id=\"uwVideoPlaceholder\" slot=\"placeholder\" style=\"z-index:19;width:100%;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/videos\/videoelephant\/thumbnails\/88435611007.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"vidplaybtn\" style=\"display:-moz-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:-webkit-flex;display:flex;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.4);border:2px solid #fff;border-radius:80px;cursor:pointer;height:80px;width:80px;position:absolute;top:50%;left:50%;transform:translate(-50%,-50%);z-index:10\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div slot=\"videoDetails\" id=\"videoDetails\" class=\"videoDetails\" style=\"padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px\">\n<div id=\"videoDetailsContainer\" class=\"videoDetailsContainer\" hidden=\"\">\n<p>Catherine O&#8217;Hara dies at age of 71<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Beetlejuice&#8221; star Catherine O&#8217;Hara died at the age of 71, according to multiple media reports.<\/p>\n<p>Fox &#8211; LA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2026\/01\/30\/catherine-best-movie-tv-roles\/88438061007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2026\/01\/30\/catherine-ohara-death-age-71\/88434443007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Catherine O&#8217;Hara<\/a>&#8216;s cause of death has been confirmed after the award-winning actress <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2026\/01\/30\/catherine-ohara-death-age-71\/88434443007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">died at 71 the morning of Jan. 30<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/11\/16\/home-alone-the-ultimate-christmas-movie\/87130705007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Home Alone<\/a>&#8221; actress died from a pulmonary embolism, according to O&#8217;Hara&#8217;s death certificate, which was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dam.tmz.com\/document\/e8\/o\/2026\/02\/09\/e8bbaafd56d14a6ab523b85dee4cd1b9.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obtained by TMZ<\/a> on Feb. 9.<\/p>\n<p>Per the document, she&#8217;d died at a Santa Monica, California, hospital within hours of the onset of symptoms. Another contributing cause was rectal cancer, which she&#8217;d been living with for months, according to the death certificate.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/news\/catherine-ohara-dead-schitts-creek-home-alone-1236646029\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Variety<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/01\/catherine-ohara-dead-1236703726\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deadline<\/a>\u00a0initially reported, citing O&#8217;Hara&#8217;s talent agency CAA, that she had died at home after &#8220;a brief illness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Throughout her career, the Toronto-born actress became a Hollywood legend, known for iconic roles as mother Kate McCallister in the Christmas classic &#8220;Home Alone&#8221; and Delia Deetz in the spooky season staple &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2024\/09\/05\/new-beetlejuice-movie-cast-interview\/75053234007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2024\/09\/05\/new-beetlejuice-movie-cast-interview\/75053234007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Beetlejuice<\/a>,&#8221; both of which she later reprised in sequels.<\/p>\n<p>Her work was not only applauded by critics and fans but also earned her industry accolades, including a Golden Globe and two Actor Awards (formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards).<\/p>\n<p>An Emmy Awards darling, she was nominated 10 times and won twice, including in 2020 for her comedy performance as matriarch Moira Rose in &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2020\/01\/13\/schitts-creek-finale-how-sitcom-honors-fans-poptv\/4460799002\/\">Schitt&#8217;s Creek<\/a>&#8221; and in 1982 for her work on the SCTV Network. In 2025, she was nominated twice for her playing entertainment executive Patty Leigh on &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2025\/09\/14\/seth-rogan-wins-first-emmy-the-studio\/86157916007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2025\/09\/14\/seth-rogan-wins-first-emmy-the-studio\/86157916007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Studio<\/a>&#8221; and therapist Gail in &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2025\/05\/26\/the-last-of-us-season-3-what-we-know\/83790458007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2025\/05\/26\/the-last-of-us-season-3-what-we-know\/83790458007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Last Of Us<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She has supporting roles in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2025\/04\/04\/martin-scorsese-the-saints-holy-week-easter\/82741146007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2025\/04\/04\/martin-scorsese-the-saints-holy-week-easter\/82741146007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Martin Scorsese<\/a>&#8216;s &#8220;After Hours&#8221; in 1985 and Mike Nichols&#8217; &#8220;Heartburn&#8221; in 1986 and later became as regular collaborator with director <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/12\/15\/rob-reiner-spinal-tap-movie-final-interview\/87778420007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/12\/15\/rob-reiner-spinal-tap-movie-final-interview\/87778420007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christopher Guest<\/a> appearing in &#8220;Waiting for Guffman&#8221; (1996), &#8220;Best in Show&#8221; (2000), &#8220;A Mighty Wind&#8221; (2003) and &#8220;For Your Consideration&#8221; (2006).<\/p>\n<p>In a 2025 interview with Variety, she reflected on how Hollywood has evolved since she started her career, calling the industry a &#8220;much more nervous business now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The internet and streaming must have opened up a world of good and horrific possibilities for people,&#8221; she told the outlet, &#8220;Most people are trying to do and want to do good work. And most people want to be entertained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Hara is survived by her husband, production designer Bo Welch, with whom she shares sons Matthew and Luke. She is also survived by siblings Maureen Jolley, Marcus O&#8217;Hara, Michael O&#8217;Hara, Mary Margaret O&#8217;Hara, Tom O&#8217;Hara and Patricia Wallice.<\/p>\n<p>Contributing: Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usatoday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Catherine O&#8217;Hara dies at age of 71 &#8220;Beetlejuice&#8221; star Catherine O&#8217;Hara died at the age of 71, according to multiple media reports. Fox &#8211; LA Catherine O&#8217;Hara&#8216;s cause of death has been confirmed after the award-winning actress died at 71 the morning of Jan. 30. The &#8220;Home Alone&#8221; actress died from a pulmonary embolism, according [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2274628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[39915,22220,25060,365976,351538,21751,239390,22367,22062,22116,304719,305429,25601,6297,21741,391654,35539,387660,24311,239392,345132,345135,339770,22240,239389,21739,298114,345133,28848,305425,21912,211924,21738,30600,437392,239343,239453,305417,24316,305423,239344],"class_list":["post-2274627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-affiliate","tag-arts","tag-awards","tag-catherine","tag-catherine-ohara","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-celebrity","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-christmas","tag-death","tag-death-u0026-tragedy","tag-deaths","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-globe","tag-golden","tag-golden-globe-awards","tag-gossip","tag-gossip-u0026-tabloid-news","tag-holiday","tag-holiday-marketplace-hub","tag-hub","tag-life","tag-life-now","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-marketplace","tag-martin","tag-martin-scorsese","tag-movies","tag-neutral","tag-news","tag-now","tag-ohara","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-scorsese","tag-tabloid","tag-tragedy","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/How-did-the-Home-Alone-actress-die.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2274627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2274630,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274627\/revisions\/2274630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2274627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2274627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2274627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}