She was celebrated for iconic performances in classics like ‘Home Alone,’ ‘Beetlejuice,’ and a string of beloved Christopher Guest ensemble comedies.
More recently, she was part of the cast for ‘The Studio.’
Catherine O’Hara, a beloved comic actor whose work has spanned different generations, has died at her Los Angeles home the age of 71 following a brief illness. Once best known for her performances in movies such as ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Beetlejuice’, she has enjoyed a more recent career resurgence thanks to hit sitcom ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and Apple TV’s ‘The Studio.’
Catherine O’Hara in 1990’s ‘Home Alone’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Born March 4, 1954, in Toronto, Ontario, Catherine Anne O’Hara grew up in a large Irish-Catholic family where humor was central to daily life. After graduating high school she began performing with the famed Second City comedy troupe in Toronto, quickly gaining notice for her improvisational skills and character work.
O’Hara joined the cast and writing staff of ‘Second City Television’ (‘SCTV’) in the late 1970s, where her sharp wit and comic range helped define the show’s irreverent voice and won her early industry acclaim, including a Primetime Emmy Award for writing.
Catherine O’Hara: A Life in Film and Television
(L to R) Annie Murphy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Daniel Levy in ‘Schitt’s Creek’. Photo: CBC Television.
O’Hara’s film career took off in the 1980s and ’90s with memorable roles in ‘Beetlejuice’ and as Kate McCallister in the holiday classics ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’, roles that endeared her to global audiences.
Her portrayal of former soap star Moira Rose on ‘Schitt’s Creek’ was a career-defining performance — earning her a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild accolades, and cementing her status as one of television’s most inventive comic actresses.
In later years she continued to surprise and delight audiences with projects including the 2024 sequel ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ dramatic turns in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, and the Apple TV+ series ‘The Studio,’ for which she garnered further critical praise.
Catherine O’Hara: Offscreen
(L to R) Willem Dafoe, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux and Michael Keaton for ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ at CinemaCon 2024. Photo: Warner Bros.
O’Hara was known for her warmth, humility, and generosity off camera, traits shared by friends and collaborators throughout her long career. She married production designer Bo Welch in 1992, and the couple raised two sons together.
Despite her fame, O’Hara often spoke of her roots in live comedy and improv, crediting her early days at Second City with shaping her creative voice and grounding her approach to performance.
Catherine O’Hara: Legacy
(L to R) Seth Rogen and Catherine O’Hara in ‘The Studio,’ premiering March 26, 2025 on Apple TV+.
Across a career spanning five decades, Catherine O’Hara brought laughter, heart, and unforgettable characters to audiences around the world. Whether playing a bewildered mom, an eccentric TV diva, or a mockumentary ensemble member, she infused each role with intelligence and soul.
Catherine O’Hara in ‘Argylle,’ directed by Matthew Vaughn.
(L to R) Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
(L to R) Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
More than 40 years ago, Rob Reiner made his feature directorial debut with ‘This is Spinal Tap,’ a faux documentary – or a mockumentary – about the final American tour of an aging, dysfunctional, and generally tacky British heavy metal act called Spinal Tap. Featuring Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer as the three main members of the group, and Reiner himself as filmmaker Marty Di Bergi, who is ‘directing’ the doc, ‘This is Spinal Tap’ not only was a brilliantly funny satire of documentaries but an acidic look at the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that is required viewing for heavy rockers to this day.
Four decades and many projects later for all involved, the venerable metal squad returns in ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,’ in which the band – due to a contractual glitch – have to reunite for one last show despite not speaking with each other in 15 years. It’s a difficult lift to try and recapture the absurdist magic of the original film, and Reiner and company don’t quite do that. But they manage to pull together a bunch of funny moments and create an affectionate and warm tribute to the ‘band’ that will leave fans smiling.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
As in the first film, the ‘story’ is only a loose thread on which to string together the various sketches and character bits that paint a portrait of the now elderly group (and their even more elderly wigs). Following the original documentary, Spinal Tap saw a resurgence in their career that they managed to milk for another 25 years – until one day, 15 years ago, lead singer David St. Hubbins (McKean) suddenly stopped talking to guitarist and co-founder Nigel Tufnel (Guest) for reasons unknown to everyone, even Nigel.
David now writes hold music and plays with a mariachi band in Morro Bay, California, while Nigel runs a ‘cheese and guitars’ shop in Northern England and bassist Derek Smalls (Shearer) is the proprietor of a London glue museum. But due to the management contract now held by Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman), daughter of late Spinal Tap manager Ian Faith (the late Tony Hendra), the band is obligated to play one more show. Can they pull it together, and will we find out why David ceased communicating with his elementary school pal Nigel?
The answers are revealed — and really don’t matter (the latter revelation is especially perfunctory and ill-staged). The real joy of ‘Spinal Tap II’ is seeing these comedians once again don the personas of this permanently addled, perpetually mediocre musical act. There are lots of nods to the original film: for instance, the band can’t find a new drummer – Questlove and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich are among those they approach — because all are terrified of joining the nearly dozen who have died in the past. Instead of his amps going to 11, Nigel now has a cheese grater hidden in the back of his guitar for a mid-concert snack and an ever-expanding collection of floor pedals.
(L to R) Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
Their new PR consultant (Fran Drescher’s Bobbi Flekman passes on returning in a brief cameo), an obnoxious blowhard played by Chris Addison, reckons that the best thing would be for one of the members to die onstage during the concert. That bit touches on the film’s underlying idea: when is enough enough? In an era where audiences are taking out second mortgages to go to one ‘farewell’ concert after another from aging rock legends, should these guys know when to stop?
Don’t think too deeply about that, because the film doesn’t. Reiner stages it just like the first one, with ‘candid’ footage of the band’s misadventures cut between interview sessions conducted by the rather clumsy Mr. Di Bergi. It fits pretty seamlessly with the first one stylistically, but the reversals and some – not all – of the jokes seem a bit tired. Still, the ones that land are often still hysterical, and despite what we said above, there’s something fun and comfortable about seeing these lads go at it once again.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
‘Spinal Tap II’ really belongs to McKean and Guest, with Shearer and Reiner there as steady support along with a boatload of cameos. It’s Guest who is perhaps the most surprising, as the befuddled Nigel displays another side to his personality that finds him yearning to be back in his cheese shop with his wife. McKean’s David still suffers from lead singer disease, most noticeably when Paul McCartney sits in with the band during rehearsals and offers some advice on how to strengthen a song – advice which David does not take kindly to (“He has a toxic personality,” sneers the frontman later about the affable, soft-spoken musical deity).
McCartney seems to enjoy being in on the joke, and there is a moment in that sequence where you can palpably feel McKean, Shearer, and Guest’s amazement that they’re jamming with a Beatle. The same goes for Elton John, who shows up late in the film but also proves a good sport in a twist on one of the first movie’s most famous sequences.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest in ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Photo: Bleecker Street.
We went into ‘Spinal Tap II’ thinking that Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer couldn’t pull it off, and that it would be a flat-footed debacle. That’s hardly the case. As we noted earlier, ‘This is Spinal Tap’ was a sort of lightning-in-a-bottle scenario, and at times ‘Spinal Tap II’ labors too hard to recapture that vibe. But we would also be lying if we said that this rusty but pleasant contraption of a film didn’t tap into our sense of nostalgia more than once – just like the bands it still sends up.
‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’ receives a score of 80 out of 100.
(L to R) Chris Addison, Kerry Godliman, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
What is the plot of ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’?
Some 40 years after his film ‘This is Spinal Tap’ chronicled a doomed U.S. tour by an over-the-hill British metal band, film director Marty Di Bergi creates another documentary of the band’s reunion and final show.
Who is in the cast of ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’?
(L to R) Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean in Bleecker Street’s ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Credit: Bleecker Street / Kyle Kaplan.
Of course, Tap being Tap (the band that is famously seen getting lost in the labyrinthine corridors of a Cleveland venue, and saw their Stonehenge set pieces constructed to slightly smaller scale than imagined), it hasn’t exactly worked out like that.
Still, production company Castle Rock has announced that the follow-up is now officially in production in New Orleans, as Reiner starts aiming to marshal that madness that comes when you have Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer making music together.
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What was the story of ‘This is Spinal Tap’?
(L to R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ Photo: Embassy Pictures.
To give its full title, ‘This is Spinal Tap’ was a mock doc following the titular heavy metal band around as they tour their new album. The comedy that ensues includes them securing second billing to a puppet show and much talk of the fates to befall various former drummers.
The film stars McKean, Guest and Shearer as the main members of the band, David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls, and while there was an outline for each scene and certain points that had to be hit, a lot of the movie was improvised by the cast.
Reiner appeared on screen as Marti DiBergi, the filmmaker following the band around to document their few triumphs and many disasters.
Released in 1984, it makes regular appearances on or atop Best Comedy lists and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry and deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress.
Since the original film, there has been a DVD sequel, ‘The Return of Spinal Tap’, and an album, ‘Spinal Tap: Back from the Dead’ arrived in 2009.
The band has also toured a few times, but this marks the full reunion of Reiner with his stars.
What’s the story of the ‘Spinal Tap’ sequel?
(L to R) Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ Photo: Embassy Pictures.
Almost nothing has been revealed about the new movie, though the official announcement carries the following logline: “after a 15-year hiatus, England’s loudest and most punctual band reunite for one final concert.”
Here’s what Reiner says about the new movie:
“I recently spoke to Marty DiBergi who said that he was more than happy to take a sabbatical from his position as a visiting Professor’s Assistant at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts to once again document Spinal Tap to ensure their place in the pantheon of Rock and Roll.”
Who else is in the new movie?
Sir Paul McCartney, in Studio 2 Abbey Road in ‘If These Walls Could Sing.’ Credit: Mary McCartney.
Given Tap’s wide influence on music (albeit in a comedy sense), it’s perhaps not surprising that a variety of famous faces from the world of music would want to cameo. We can expect to see the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood show up, though the hope is that the cameos don’t detract from the main trio.
The ‘Spinal Tap’ sequel (could it be called ‘This is Spinal Tap… Again’? –– Rob, call us, we’ll figure out a payment plan for that idea) has yet to announce a release date.
(L to R) Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ Photo: Embassy Pictures.
Preview:
Director Rob Reiner says he’s preparing to shoot the ‘Spinal Tap’ sequel in February.
Stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer will all reprise their roles.
Reiner is likening the tone to Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last Waltz’ documentary.
‘Spinal Tap’ fans, prepare to set your excitement dial to 11. Why so? After years of teasing and talking about it, the team behind the legendary mockumentary are officially getting the band back together on big screens for a sequel.
At least, that’s what director Rob Reiner –– who also appeared in the original as faux documentarian Martin “Marty” Di Bergi –– is saying, when asked for an update on the sequel.
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What was the story of ‘This is Spinal Tap’?
(L to R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ Photo: Embassy Pictures.
To give its full title, ‘This is Spinal Tap’ was a mock doc following the titular heavy metal band around as they tour their new album. The madness that ensues includes them being second billing to a puppet show, a Stonehenge prop designed to entirely wrong specifications and much talk of the fates to befall various former drummers.
The film stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer as the main members of the band, David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls, and while there was an outline for each scene and certain points that had to be hit, a lot of the movie was improvised by the cast.
Released in 1984, it makes regular appearances on or atop Best Comedy lists and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry and deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress.
Since the original film, there has been a DVD sequel, ‘The Return of Spinal Tap’, and an album, ‘Spinal Tap: Back from the Dead’ arrived in 2009.
The band has also toured a few times, but this marks the full reunion of Reiner with his stars.
“We’re making a sequel. We’re going to start shooting in the end of February and everybody is back.”
Reiner hinted that the plan for the film is to mimic the style of Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last Waltz,’ the legendary concert film that documented the farewell tour of the Canadian American rock group The Band.
And from the sound of it, it’ll be a farewell to the Tap. At least, for now. Here’s what Reiner said:
“You don’t want to overstay your welcome. This is like stand-up — you leave them wanting. You go off on a big laugh and go out. The worst thing you could do is just load it up with, even if they’re funny things, they may be tangents and things that take away from the drive of the film.”
In the same interview, Reiner revealed that the likes of music icons Paul McCartney and Elton John would make an appearance in the new movie, representing just two people in the industry who are big fans of the original.
When will the next ‘Spinal Tap’ be in theaters?
While the movie had been scheduled for March 19, 2024, the actors’ strike put an end to that. As it stands, the film does not have a release date set.
(L to R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ Photo: Embassy Pictures.
(L to R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’
‘This Is Spinal Tap’ is widely considered to be one of the funniest movies of all time. Comedians cite it as a huge influence and musicians are quick to praise it too.
The pressure, then, to make a sequel to the 1984 release must have been huge on director Rob Reiner and stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer, who largely improvised their way through comic chaos, undersized set designs and an ever-changing roster of drummers as England’s “loudest” band go on tour.
While all involved have resisted such ideas until, Guest, McKean and Shearer have toured from time to time. Yet with the 40th anniversary of the first movie approaching in a couple of years, Reiner and co. have come up with something, sprung partly from those real-world concerts (or the relative lack of recent gig).
The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film and I can tell you hardly a day goes by without someone saying, why don’t you do another one? For so many years, we said, ‘nah.’” Reiner tells Deadline. “It wasn’t until we came up with the right idea how to do this. You don’t want to just do it, to do it. You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story.”
(L to R) Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’
And that idea? “They’ve played Albert Hall, played Wembley Stadium, all over the country and in Europe,” Reiner said. “They haven’t spent any time together recently, and that became the premise. The idea was that Ian Faith, who was their manager, he passed away. Ian’s widow inherited a contract that said Spinal Tap owed them one more concert. She was basically going to sue them if they didn’t. All these years and a lot of bad blood we’ll get into, and they’re thrown back together and forced to deal with each other and play this concert.”
The band aren’t the only ones returning as Reiner, in addition to directing once more, will also grace the screen again as Marty DiBergi, the fake filmmaker who was chronicling the band’s latest tour in the mock-rock-doc. Turns out, there’s some ill will there too… “The band was upset with the first film. They thought I did a hatchet job, and this is a chance to redeem myself,” says Reiner of his character. “I am such a big fan and I felt bad they didn’t like what they saw in the first film. When I heard they might get back together, I was a visiting adjunct teacher’s helper at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts. I drop everything to document this final concert.”
While returning to the world of a nailed-down comedy classic invites unwelcome comparisons and the risk of tarnished legacies, the idea of this bunch making merry, and music, again certainly appeals.
The original will be screened at the Cannes Festival next week as part of the Cinema de la Plage sidebar, and rights to distribute the sequel will be on sale. The current plan is to have the new movie in theaters on March 19th, 2024. No word yet on whether it’ll have to share the bill with a puppet show.
