THE ROVING PECKER PRESENTS: "Catherine O'Hara Has Passed Away" By Darkside!

Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today's is from Darkside!

Pour out a glass of Herb Ertlinger's Fruit Wine. The entire world is still shuddering with the shock at the news that actress, comedienne, and Canadian icon Catherine O'Hara has left us at the age of 71.

Born in Toronto in 1954, she began her career after college by joining the acclaimed Second City comedy troupe, where she honed her skills into becoming one of the funniest comic actors in recent history. Eventually, she and a small group of colleagues banded together to create "SCTV" ("Second City Television"), one of the most acclaimed and influential comedy shows in the history of TV. Perhaps inevitably, "Saturday Night Live" came calling in 1981, but O'Hara declined the invitation. Long-standing rumor states it was because she was scared off by writer Michael O'Donoghue screaming at the cast and spray-painting "DANGER!" across her dressing room, but O'Hara steadfastly denied this, claiming she merely wanted to remain in Toronto and stay loyal to SCTV.

She did, however, parlay her Second City credentials into multiple iconic film roles through the 80s and 90s, most notably Delia Deetz in "Beetlejuice," Sally in "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and possibly her most memorable role, mother Kate McCallister in the "Home Alone" duology, which cemented her as a surrogate mother figure to an entire generation. Around this time, she frequently collaborated with director Christopher Guest in his films "Waiting for Guffman," "Best in Show," and "A Mighty Wind," which popularized the "mockumentary" comedy format co-opted and imitated by every acclaimed sitcom of the past decade.

In the 2010s, her career entered a renaissance when she joined frequent collaborator Eugene Levy in the CBC sitcom "Schitt's Creek" in the role of Moira Rose. With enough input on her character to warrant a "consulting producer" title in the end credits, O'Hara gave the character an elaborate, Daphne-Guiness-inspired fashion, seemingly endless wigs, a detached air, and a halting, loquacious style of speaking. Moira became an instant icon of a character, with clips going viral and parodies of a particular commercial the character filmed for a local (not very good) fruit winery parodied and copied far and wide. The role brought O'Hara a Golden Globe Award and her sole acting Emmy (she has another for writing for SCTV,) and the love and admiration of an entire new generation. O'Hara continued to work, returning to the role of Delia in the sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and reviving her iconic "Kevin!" "Home Alone" scream in commercials with Kevin Hart.

My personal introduction to the magic of Catherine O'Hara came later than most; by the time I came along, "Beetlejuice" and "Home Alone" were beloved staples, endlessly rerun on cable, so they were less appointment viewing and more holiday background noise. However, her work on "Schitt's Creek" - where she managed to play a character so unabashedly "out there," while still managing to give her a grounding that kept her from feeling out of place in such a modest setting despite her theatrical eccentricities - truly captivated me. That character could have easily felt like she was beamed in from another universe, but Catherine made appear as if she belonged (as much as Moira might balk at the idea.) Making the outlandish feel real is a skill that not many possess. That warmth and heart is likely what made her feel like a mother figure to to generations of fans.

She is survived by her husband Bo Welch and her two children.

Rest in peace, Catherine. And thanks for the laughs. 

Photo Credits: NPR/Getty Images