How the Oscars Paid Tribute to Catherine O’Hara

Catherine O'Hara, one of Hollywood's most beloved actresses and comedians, was honored at this year's Academy Awards as part of the ceremony's In Memoriam segment, paying tributes to stars of cinema who have passed away in the last 12 months.

O'Hara died on January 31 this year, at the age of 71. The actress, who posthumously won the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her work in The Studio, died of a blood clot in her lungs, with the death certificate listing rectal cancer as the long-term cause of death.

Although Catherine was never nominated individually for an Academy Award, the Canadian star, who first rose to fame on the sketch comedy series SCTV, did star in several Oscar-nominated films. These include Home Alone (Best Original Score and Best Original Song), Beetlejuice (winner of Best Makeup), (Best Visual Effects), A Mighty Wind (Best Original Song, titled “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow”, which O’Hara performed with co-star Eugene Levy at the 76th Academy Awards), Where the Wild Things Are (Best Original Score), and Frankenweenie (Best Animated Feature).

How the Academy Awards Honored Catherine O'Hara

During the In Memoriam, actress Rachel McAdams paid tribute to the women in film we've lost over the past year, including O'Hara.

McAdams referred to O'Hara as a "genius and scene stealer, our mighty wind," referring to the late actress's famous film. In her heartfelt salute to "my fellow Canadian," Rachel added, "She made us laugh until we cried."

O'Hara was later shown in a montage of film clips with other actors who had also passed away over the last 12 months.

Earlier this month, O'Hara's The Studio co-star Seth Rogen accepted her posthumous Actor Award on her behalf. During the heartfelt speech, Rogen said, “I know she would have been honored to receive this award from her fellow performers, who[m] I know she respected so much. She was such big fans of all of yours."

“I, obviously, have been reflecting on the time I was fortunate enough to spend with her and working with her, and something that I’ve just been marveling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious, while never, ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing. She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.”

He ended the emotional salute by talking directly to the audience. |If you have people in your lives that don’t know her work, if they’re kids in your lives, or just people who are out of touch or stupid or something, just show them O’Hara dancing to Harry Belafonte and Beetlejuice, show them O’Hara hurting her knee in Best in Show and doing that amazing thing where she hobbles around, and tell the people, as they are laughing, that that’s Catherine O’Hara, and we were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us.”