During his Tuesday night appearance on “The Tonight Show,” Dan Levy mourned the death of “Schitt’s Creek” co-star Catherine O’Hara, calling her passing “a collective loss.”
O’Hara co-starred with Levy in “Schitt’s Creek,” the multi-season comedy created by Levy and his father Eugene. She was nominated twice for Emmys for her performance as Moira Rose, a former soap opera star and the matriarch of the show’s central family, and took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2020.
The iconic actress died on Jan. 30 at the age of 71. While reflecting on his past “Tonight Show” appearances, Levy took a moment to remember O’Hara, who appeared alongside him and some of their “Schitt’s Creek” castmates on a previous episode of the NBC late night series.
“It’s a collective loss, I think,” Levy told Fallon of O’Hara’s passing. “She was the greatest. She’s irreplaceable, and, you know, I think the great comfort for me has just been to see how loved she was. You know what I mean? Like, the outpouring. Everyone felt like they kind of knew her. Huge loss.”
Fallon echoed Levy’s thoughts, telling the “Big Mistakes” actor, “She could do everything. She’s one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever seen.”
Levy agreed, noting that O’Hara was “unbelievably talented at improvising.” He finished by calling the actress and comedian “one of the great, great, great, great, greats.” You can watch the “Tonight Show” moment yourself in the video above.
O’Hara’s passing was met with — as Levy said — an outpouring of tributes from both the colleagues who knew and worked with her in the entertainment industry and her many admirers outside of it. Everyone from O’Hara’s “Home Alone” co-star Macaulay Culkin to Pedro Pascal publicly mourned her death, while Levy’s father Eugene penned a heartfelt tribute to the late star.
“Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today,” Levy said in a statement at the time. “I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty 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.”
O’Hara was spotlighted along with other screen legends like Diane Keaton and Rob Reiner during this year’s In Memoriam segment at the Oscars. She posthumously won the award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the Actor Awards in early March for her performance in the first season of Apple TV’s “The Studio” as well. Series creator and co-star Seth Rogen accepted the award on her behalf.
“She really showed that you can be a genius and be kind,” Rogen said of O’Hara. “And one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any way, shape or form.”
