Macaulay Culkin paid tribute to his iconic on-screen mother, Catherine O’Hara, following her death on Friday.
O’Hara, 71, starred as the mother of Culkin’s Kevin McCallister in the classic 1990s film series, Home Alone, in which she left no stone unturned in her attempts to get back to her son on Christmas after leaving him by himself at their Chicago home.
Culkin, 45, posted a memorial to his former co-star on Instagram, sharing a 2023 photo of the two actors reenacting their climactic reunion at the end of the first Home Alone film.
“Mama. I thought we had time,” Culkin captioned the post. “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you but I had so much more to say.”
“I love you. I’ll see you later,” he concluded.
O’Hara’s reps at CAA confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that she died at her Los Angeles home on Friday following a brief illness, but no cause of death has been reported.
Devin Ratray, who played Kevin’s brother Buzz McCallister in the films, also shared his condolences in an Instagram post.
“One of the greatest people I ever met,” Ratray, 49, said. “It just doesn’t register. Bewildered and numb.”
The comedy legend had a storied career, best known for her early roles in films such as Home Alone and Beetlejuice, as well as for her later award-winning performance in the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek and her most recent appearance in Apple TV’s The Studio.
She was also a frequent collaborator of actor and comedian Christopher Guest, with whom she starred in Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.
O’Hara was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and started her comedy career at the Second City improv theater in 1974, working as an understudy for Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. In 1981, she famously joined the SNL cast but quit after one week, never actually appearing on screen.
O’Hara and her frequent comedy partner Eugene Levy won many awards for playing a formerly wealthy couple in Schitt’s Creek, which would net O’Hara her first acting Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her performance as Moira Rose.
The actress also picked up two Emmy nominations last year for her performances in The Studio and HBO’s The Last of Us, where she played the post-apocalyptic therapist to Pedro Pascal’s Joel.
“Oh, genius to be near you,” Pascal posted on Instagram Friday. “Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.
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