What to know
- At Monday night’s 78th Emmy Awards, Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy, and Dan Levy each paid a heartfelt tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara.
- The legenday Canadian actress and comedian died earlier this year at 71 years old from a pulmonary clot.
- Culkin spoke about O’Hara’s role as a “mama,” Murphy recounted the memories Canadians shared with her regarding the late actress, and Levy shared the importance of “always saying yes.”
Catherine O’Hara’s on-screen children dedicated a touching tribute to the late Canadian legend at the 78th Emmy Awards.
During the In Memoriam section at Monday night’s ceremony, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy each delivered heartfelt words to O’Hara, reminiscing on what they remembered the most about the late actress and comedian.
Culkin, Levy and Murphy have all crossed paths with O’Hara, playing her on-screen children in the Home Alone movies and the TV comedy Schitt’s Creek, respectively.
Culkin started off the segment, comparing O’Hara to a mother figure, not just to him, but to all of us.
“There are all kinds of words I could use to describe Catherine. She was encouraging. She was warm. She was funny. But the word that I think of is mama,” the actor said wistfully.
“She wasn’t just a wife and mother to Bo and Matthew, and Luke. She was my mom. She was our mama. And by extension, she’s all of our mama.”
Culkin handed off the figurative baton to Murphy, who talked about the regular Canadians who shared with her their memories of O’Hara — on an Air Canada flight, at the LCBO, and at a gas station.
“After we lost Catherine, I was passed a note on an Air Canada flight that said, ‘She was so special. I hope you’re doing okay,” Murphy reminisced.
“On a drive up north, I was hugged by an extremely gruff looking gas station attendant who was also grieving her loss. While buying wine at the LCBO, I was treated to a very lively Catherine mashup, which was a woman saying, ‘Ew, David, where’s the baby?’”
Finally, Levy, whose father Eugene Levy worked with O’Hara for over 50 years, from Second City to Schitt’s Creek, shared with the Emmy’s audience the importance of always saying yes, especially when in the presence of greatness.
“The greatest lesson I learned from Catherine, both professionally and personally, was to always say yes. Say yes to her instinct, all of them. As radical as they may sometimes seem, she is miles ahead of you, and you will learn to catch up,” Levy recounted.
“Say yes to her dinner invites and her stories and her wisdom and her generosity. Those are the things you will hold on to the tightest.”
O’Hara died earlier this year on January 30 at age 71 from a pulmonary clot caused by rectal cancer. She has over 120 acting credits and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2017.
