Catherine O’Hara’s Schitt’s Creek triumph
Her showstopping role as Moira in Schitt’s Creek has revived Catherine’s career after almost five decades in the biz
OUTRAGEOUS wigs, impractical costumes, a bizarre accent and an ego bigger than the small town she’s reluctantly living in. Anyone who’s watched Schitt’s Creek will know exactly who this is: Moira Rose, matriarch of the once filthy rich Rose family, a failed actress clinging to delusions of grandeur even while living in a dingy motel and eating at the local greasy spoon.
She’s one of the reasons the comedy series was a runaway success – and this was driven home once again when the woman who brings Moira to life recently scooped a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV series – musical or comedy.
Catherine O’Hara must be used to accolades by now, though. She won an Emmy for the role last year and she’s part of a cast that’s won more awards than the town of Schitt’s Creek has residents.
Catherine was gracious to Eugene and Dan Levy, the father-son team who created the show and play her husband and son respectively, when she accepted her Golden Globe.
“From day one, they treated me like something like this [winning awards] might happen,” she said. “They created an inspiring, funny, beautiful family love story in which they let me wear a hundred wigs and speak like an alien. It’s
LEFT: Catherine O’Hara won an Emmy last year for best lead actress in a comedy series for Schitt’s Creek. an experience I’ll forever hold dear to my heart.”
CATHERINE (67) has been in the business for more than fourand-a-half decades but she considers Moira to be the role of a lifetime.
“I’m a little surprised by the whole thing,” she says of Moira’s popularity. “I just wanted to create a character I could live with for more than one season, because I’d never committed to one character for any length of time.”
Schitt’s Creek enjoyed six glorious seasons, becoming one of Netflix’s most successful comedy shows and drawing millions of viewers.
And Moira is one of the reasons why. She has many failings – she’s rampantly selfish, neglectful as a mother and unabashedly materialistic – yet she’s as entertaining as a cast of circus performers and endearing as heck.
Then there’s that voice. Catherine says she created Moira’s strange intonations and obscure vocabulary by mashing up Audrey Hepburn’s diction and Marilyn Monroe’s breathiness.
“It’s how people speak when they want to reinvent themselves over and over again,” she says.
“I love to stretch out syllables. I don’ t think about it when I’m doing [it] – some words just want to live longer.”
The hairstylist on set ens u r e d that there
were eight to 10 wigs for Catherine to choose from at any given moment. “Often she’d choose the wig right before she went on set,” Dan says. “So it was impulsive. Whatever wig called to her, she’d put it on, twist it around, wear it sideways or wear it backwards.” Catherine’s conscious commitment yet natural ability to make a character her own is what’s sustained her throughout her 46-year career. She first made a name for herself in 1974 when she landed a spot in The Second City improvisational comedy troupe in Toronto, Canada, where she’s from. But it wasn’t until she starred in and wrote the sketch comedy series Second City Television (SCTV) that she really made a breakthrough. SCTV won her an Emmy for writing in a variety programme in the early ’80s and put her on the Hollywood map. One of her most famous roles is that of Kate McCallister, the mom of little Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) in the 1990 smash hit movie Home Alone and its sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Since then, she’s lent her talents to loads of projects and been nominated for numerous awards, including six Emmys. Last year’s Emmy win was her first since 1982. “This is so cool,” she said during her acceptance speech. “I’ll forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age who gets to fully be her ridiculous self.”
CATHERINE has a close-knit family of her own too. She’s been married to Oscar-nominated production designer and director Bo Welch (69) for 28 years and the couple have two sons, Luke (27) and Matthew (24).
Catherine and Bo started dating shortly after meeting on the set of the movie Beetlejuice (1988) in Canada. She was starring as Delia Deetz while Bo worked as the production designer.
Catherine says it was love at first sight. “He finally asked me out. We went on location at the end of the movie, and we started dating.”
It wasn’t long before she packed her bags and relocated to Los Angeles to be with him. “I moved for my career, yes,” she says. “But I also moved for love.”
Catherine also briefly dated none other than Eugene (now 74) after they worked together on SCTV. It didn’t last long and he went on to marry writer Deborah Divine (now 61) in 1977.
“I’m so glad it worked out that way,” Catherine says. “We probably wouldn’t be working together if we’d gone longer on the dating road. Really, it was, like, one or two dates. That’s it.”
Still, they’ve had a successful partnership on the professional front. Since sharing the improv stage on SCTV, Eugene and Catherine co-starred in several mockumentaries directed by Christopher Guest, including A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006). Both actors won Emmys for writing SCTV and last year they both clinched the same TV award again for Schitt’s Creek.
“This is the lovely thing about working with a friend who you love and respect, and I really love and respect Eugene,” Catherine says. “He’s really funny, he’s thoughtful in his work, he’s a great writer and a great actor.”
She’ll also be eternally grateful for the role of Moira, which allowed her to reinvent her career at the age of 60. It’s an opportunity she doesn’t take lightly.
“I rarely think of my age, but sometimes you have to,” she says. “I’ve been able to do this show where I get to play this absurd but lovely character. And I’ve been able to collaborate and play with my dialogue. And to have stories that weren’t just about death, divorce and disease, which are pretty much the storylines for people past a certain age. “I’ve been lucky.” Well, so have we.