Catherine O’Hara Said She Was ‘Lucky’ to be Prior to Death, Was Excited For Her Career

Comedian and actress Catherine O’Hara talked about how lucky she was to be alive and thriving in her career just two years before her sudden death at age 71.

The Home Alone star died suddenly on Friday, January 30 after being rushed to the hospital in serious condition in the early morning hours, a fire department spokesperson told Page Six. A cause of death has not yet been determined.

Prior to her tragic death, O’Hara spoke with Elle Canada in 2024 about managing her career stresses by reminding herself to be grateful.

“I’m lucky [I get] to keep doing things like this at my age — I can’t believe it,” she said at the time. “Over the past few years, when I’ve gotten scared or nervous or if I start grousing about something, I’ve tried to really practise turning it around and being grateful. Like, ‘How lucky are you right now to be alive? And then to have this opportunity right here in this moment?’”

Specifically, the actress seemed excited to be playing vibrant older women.

“I feel that now, stories about people my age usually have to do with death and divorce and disease,” she said. “So I’m really fortunate [to] have people around me who respect aging people and who give me new experiences.”

“I’d like to think that the kind of roles I’m getting to play now are roles that people are getting to play in life. I’m playing a studio head who becomes an independent producer — how beautiful is it that someone my age is doing this?” she added, referencing her role in AppleTV’s The Studio. “It’s the way it should be.”