‘One of the greatest comic talents’: tributes paid to actor Catherine O’Hara
Tributes have poured in from the world of showbiz and politics for Catherine O’Hara, with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and Schitt’s Creek’s co-creator Dan Levy mourning the loss of a “legend” after the actor died at the age of 71.O’Hara, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role in the TV comedy series, died on Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, according to her agency, CAA.The Canadian-American actor was also known for roles in Home Alone and the Beetlejuice films.In a post on Instagram, Levy said he would “cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her”.He added: “What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years.
“Having spent over 50 years collaborating with my dad [Schitt’s Creek co-star and co-creator Eugene Levy], Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family,“It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it,”Eugene Levy said: “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today,I had the honour of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over 50 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.My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.”Richard E Grant, who starred in 2006’s Penelope with O’Hara, called the actor’s death an “incalculable loss”.In a post on Instagram, he said: “She & her husband Bo were the first people we called when we were in LA, stayed with us in the Cotswolds, shared dinners in London & never stopped yakking & laughing.”In 2024, O’Hara reprised her role as Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, having starred in the first film in 1988.
Her co-star Michael Keaton said: “We go back before the first Beetlejuice.She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend.This one hurts.Man am I gonna miss her.”Alec Baldwin, who also starred in the original film, described O’Hara as “one of the greatest comic talents in the movie business” who possessed “a quality that was all her own”.
Seth Rogen, her co-star in the Apple TV comedy series The Studio – for which O’Hara received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations – called the news of her passing “devastating”.He said in a post on Instagram: “I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen.“Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies.Getting to work with her was a true honour.“She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous … She made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it.
This is just devastating.We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.”The Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers described her death as “a very sad day for comedy and for Canada”, describing O’Hara as “one of the greatest comedy artists in history”.The former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau called her a “beloved Canadian icon”, while the country’s current leader, Mark Carney, said Canada had “lost a legend”.In a statement, Carney said he joined all Canadians in mourning, adding: “Over five decades of work, Catherine earned her place in the canon of Canadian comedy.
”O’Hara is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, and sons Matthew and Luke.The statement said her family would hold a private celebration of her life.
Can Peter Mandelson be stripped of his peerage over Epstein links?
Keir Starmer has said he wants Peter Mandelson out of the House of Lords, after the peer was found to have deeper links with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, including emails which suggested Epstein had sent thousands of pounds to Lord Mandelson’s husband.Others appeared to show confidential market-sensitive information from inside No 10 was shared with Epstein while Mandelson was business secretary.But removing Mandelson’s peerage is exceptionally complex – and there are many different routes it could take.No. He has said he “believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title”
Mandelson should no longer be a peer, says Starmer
Keir Starmer has demanded Peter Mandelson resign from the House of Lords and urged the upper chamber to modernise its disciplinary procedures to allow peers to be stripped of their titles.The cabinet secretary, the UK’s most senior civil servant, will also investigate Mandelson’s actions as business secretary when Labour was last in power, after emails to Jeffrey Epstein about highly sensitive government policy emerged.The documents released on Friday by the US Department of Justice also appear to show Mandelson, as business secretary in 2009, forwarded a confidential UK government document outlining £20bn in asset sales and outlining Labour’s tax policy plans. He also told the disgraced financier that he was “trying hard” to change government policy on bankers’ bonuses at his request.Downing Street said Mandelson should testify before the US Congress inquiry into the Epstein files if he was called, after a further huge tranche of documents was released over the weekend
How the depth of Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein came to light
Peter Mandelson has resigned from the Labour party over his links to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s how the depth of their relationship – both before and after Epstein’s conviction for sexual crimes – has come to light.The files show evidence Mandelson advised Epstein on how the investment bank JPMorgan might lobby the government – of which he was a part – on plans for a tax on bankers’ bonuses.Among the documents is a chain of emails between Epstein and Mandelson, in which the former asks if the new tax might only apply to the cash portion of bonuses. “Trying hard to amend,” Mandelson wrote back on 15 December 2009
Mandelson resigns from Labour to prevent ‘further embarrassment’ over Epstein links
Peter Mandelson has said he has resigned his membership of the Labour party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” after more revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, featured in documents released by the US Department of Justice on Friday related to the convicted sex offender.Mandelson said he had written on Sunday evening to Hollie Ridley, the general secretary of the Labour party, to say he was resigning his party membership.His letter said: “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me
UK should consider resuming talks on EU defence pact, Starmer says
The UK should consider re-entering talks for a defence pact with the EU, Keir Starmer has said, arguing that Europe needs to “step up and do more” to defend itself in uncertain times.The prime minister signalled that he wanted to work more collaboratively with other European countries to increase defence spending and build up military capability, and doing so through the EU’s scheme is one option available.Talks for the UK to join the EU’s €150bn (£130bn) security action for Europe (Safe) defence fund collapsed in November 2025 amid claims the bloc had set too high a price on entry, with France blamed for the breakdown.However, there is understood to be greater appetite on all sides for a deal on the UK to join a future round of Safe, especially since Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland and criticism of Nato.Asked on his trip to China whether there was a case for the UK going back into a second-round Safe defence pact if the price was right, Starmer said: “Europe, including the UK, needs to do more on security and defence … that’s an argument I’ve been making for many months now
Lord Wallace of Tankerness obituary
Jim Wallace, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, who has died aged 71 following complications after surgery, was an influential Liberal figure who achieved the extremely rare distinction in politics of being disliked by almost nobody. Mild-mannered, pragmatic, sociable, with liberal values underpinned by a strong Christian faith, he was ever present in Scottish politics over four decades, during which his party re-emerged from the Celtic fringes to become part of Scottish and UK governments.Wallace’s influence extended well beyond Scotland. As Liberal chief whip at Westminster after the 1987 general election, he was widely credited with minimising opposition to full-scale merger with the SDP to form the newly branded Liberal Democrats.Tavish Scott, who later succeeded him as a leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, recalled: “That merger would not have happened had not Jim deployed his diplomacy, intellectual prowess and endless patience to what were at the time fraught negotiations
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