Catherine O’Hara’s Cause Of Death Has Now Been Confirmed

Catherine O’Hara died as the result of a pulmonary embolism, her death certificate has confirmed.

Last month, it was announced that the two-time Emmy winner had died in hospital at the age of 71, following what her family described at the time as a “brief illness”.

On Monday evening, it was reported that her death certificate indicated that the actor died as the result of a blood clot on her lungs, with rectal cancer also listed as an underlying cause.

Per BBC News, Catherine had been undergoing cancer treatment since March 2025.

The Canadian-born performer began her career on the sketch comedy series Second City Television, for which she won her first Emmy in the early 1980s.

From there, she went on to land roles in the likes of Beetlejuice, Home Alone and the largely-improvised Christopher Guest comedies Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.

In her later years, she became synonymous with the role of Moira Rose in the sitcom Schitt’s Creek, with her co-stars having all paid their respects in the weeks since her death.

Her frequent collaborator Eugene Levy lamented: “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today. I had the honour of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over 50 years.

“From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to SCTV, to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on Schitt’s Creek, I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship. And I will miss her.”

Dan Levy also wrote in his own tribute: “What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years.

“Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it.”

Remembering her on-screen mum’s distinctive laugh, Annie Murphy also said: “Her laugh was a perpetual ‘yes, and’… it challenged anyone who heard it to join in, and be as delighted as she was. Gosh, were we ever lucky to have her.”

More recently, Catherine also played a small role in the second season of The Last Of Us, and shared the screen with Seth Rogen in his Emmy-winning comedy The Studio.