Bob Balaban, who co-starred with Catherine O’Hara in four Christopher Guest movies, lovingly remembered the late actress, noting that her Canadian roots played into her thoughtfulness.
“Catherine O’Hara had an extraordinary kindness that so many Canadians seem to have,” Balaban, 80, wrote to Page Six in an exclusive statement. “She also had the gift of loopiness that so many Canadian comic actors have, too — Eugene Levy, Marty Short, John Candy, for example.”
The “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” actor joked that he believed Canadian comedians’ “extraordinary kindness” and “loopiness” comes from “having to wear a woolen hat with earflaps for too many months of the year.”
Both starred in “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind” and “For Your Consideration.”
Balaban went on to praise O’Hara’s poker smarts and modesty.
“Catherine was as smart as a person can be, but never showy,” he wrote. “And effortlessly creative with material. She had great generosity, which she would often use to bolster another actor’s performance.”
“And you have to love a person who, after they beat you at a big, big hand of poker, apologizes.”
Guest also told Page Six, “I am devastated. We have lost one of the comic giants of our age. I send my love to her family.”
A host of co-stars, including her “Home Alone” son Macaulay Culkin mourned O’Hara’s untimely death.
Culkin shared two photos of them hugging, taken decades apart.
“Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you,” he captioned the picture in part.
The “Schitt’s Creek” star died on Friday at the age of 71, following a brief illness.
The Los Angeles Fire Department told us exclusively that they responded to a call to her home at 4:48 a.m. local time before transporting her to the hospital in “serious” condition.
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O’Hara’s last public appearance was at an Apple TV+’s Primetime Emmy Party last September.
She attended the star-studded bash with her husband, Bo Welch, an Oscar- and Emmy-nominated production designer.
She is survived by Welch and their two sons.