As Hollywood mourns the loss of Catherine O’Hara, one of her Canadian comrades is paying tribute.
On Friday night, after the actress and comedian died at age 71, fellow Second City Television (SCTV) alum Martin Short raised a glass to O’Hara during his comedy tour stop with Steve Martin in Austin, Texas.
“Catherine O’Hara, I met her when she was 18 years of age, and all these years laters, she’s been the greatest, most brilliant, kindest, sweetest angel that any of us worked with,” said Short in a video, toasting with the audience. “So, God bless Catherine.”
Deadline previously confirmed that O’Hara died on Friday at her home in Los Angeles, following a brief illness.
O’Hara first performed with Toronto’s Second City Theatre in 1974 and later, with fellow alumni including Eugene Levy, created the iconic sketch comedy show SCTV in ’76.
Known for characters like edge-of-a-breakdown lounge singer Lola Heatherton, a portmanteau of real-life performers Lola Falana and Joey Heatherton, and Lorna Minnelli, a mash-up of the Judy Garland daughters Lorna Luft and Liza Minnelli, O’Hara won an Emmy Award and earned four nominations for her writing on the show.
Short appeared on SCTV from 1982-’83. Other SCTV alums include fellow comedy greats like John Candy, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, and Dave Thomas.
