Authorities have revealed Catherine O’Hara’s cause of death.
The Home Alone and Beetlejuice actress died on Jan. 30 at age 71.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that O’Hara died from a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs.
TMZ reported that rectal cancer was the underlying cause.
According to her death certificate, O’Hara was cremated and her remains were given to her husband Bo Welch, 74, a production designer and director whom she met on the set of Beetlejuice.
O’Hara’s representatives previously confirmed that she had suffered from a “brief illness.”
The Canadian-American actress was born with a rare congenital condition called situs inversus, in which the body’s internal organs are arranged as a mirror image.
While the condition has not been linked to O’Hara’s death, The Washington Post reported that it can sometimes occur alongside a respiratory disorder that affects lung function.
O’Hara appeared more gaunt than usual in her last major public appearance at the Emmy Awards in September of this past year, where she had been nominated for her performance opposite Seth Rogen in The Studio.
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, O’Hara gained mainstream notoriety in the U.S. when she took on leading roles in Hollywood blockbusters Beetlejuice in 1988 and then Home Alone in 1990.
Starting with Waiting for Guffman in 1996, she formed a long-term creative relationship with director Christopher Guest, appearing in several of his beloved improvised films such as 2000’s Best in Show.
She later played opposite her longtime friend and collaborator Eugene Levy in the award-winning Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek from 2015 to 2020.
“Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today,” Levy, 79, told People after O’Hara’s death. “I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty years.” He added, “I will miss her.”
O’Hara also received a touching tribute on Saturday Night Live, where producers played an image of her on screen to conclude the show.
She was famously cast on the sixth season of SNL in 1981, but quit after just one week before ever appearing on screen to return to the sketch series Second City Television. But she returned to SNL as a host, leading the show twice in the early ’90s.
