Opinion Catherine O’Hara taught us to hold on to the Moira Roses in us
That she loved her craft is, of course, evident in her work but it was more than a vocation for her. In an interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation alongside the ‘Schitt’s Creek’ cast, she said acting was an opportunity to learn life skills: ‘I always told people to take the classes just for life’
As we bid farewell to Catherine O’Hara, we can only hope to hold on to the Moiras within us a little bit longer. (file photo) Fair disclosure. I knew Moira Rose before I knew Catherine O’Hara. Flamboyant, delusional, melodramatic and consistently imperious, she was truly unbelievable. Unbelievably aspirational, even in her 60s, for a woman half her age.
It is difficult to put a finger on what exactly inspired me. I suppose I never quite thought about it with such seriousness when I was laughing at her, with her, three years ago while binge watching Schitt’s Creek. Twice. The Canadian TV show directed by the father-son duo, Eugene and Dan Levy, is exceptional for many reasons. And Moira Rose is right at the top of that list.
Is it strange to say that I want to be her when I grow up? Just for her sheer confidence, that abandon that allow her to be true to her truest self. Honest, unabashed and a tad bit unhinged. To be as unapologetic as she rolls polysyllabic words — they almost sound made up — off her tongue. The scene that always does the job for me is the one where she is instructing David, her son, to “fold in the cheese”, while they make enchiladas. Somehow she doesn’t know what the step really means. The exchange between the two is frustrating, hilarious and impressive. Impressive because Moira doesn’t budge even when she is caught in a quagmire. And you have to give it to her for spirit.
She was equally at home with her collection of wigs and over-the-top outfits — the Black Crow Funeral look, the golden pyjamas, the power suits — Moira was always quintessentially Moira.
But there’s no Moira without O’Hara. It is only after you have experienced Moira and gone down the rabbit hole of O’Hara’s filmography — Beetlejuice, Home Alone 1 and 2, and most recently, The Studio, among many other memorable films and shows — that you realise that she was the actor she was because of the person she was, genuine and generous. At Macaulay Culkin’s (who played his son in Home Alone) induction in Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, she graciously credited all of the film’s success to him. The warmth is palpable. You know she meant it.
That she loved her craft is, of course, evident in her work but it was more than a vocation for her. In an interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation alongside the Schitt’s Creek cast, she said acting was an opportunity to learn life skills: “I always told people to take the classes just for life.”
But more than anything else, she was Moira Rose. Dan and Eugene may have written her, but it was, in fact, O’Hara who brought Moira to life in more ways than one. At the event for Culkin, she had said, “Humour is a key to surviving life at any age” echoing an earlier interview with Rolling Stone, “If you’re not truthful, it’s not funny.” At her 2020 Emmy speech for winning the Best Actress award, O’Hara said, “I will forever be grateful… for the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be her ridiculous self.”
As we bid farewell to O’Hara, we can only hope to hold on to the Moiras within us a little bit longer.
The writer is associate editor, The Indian Express. trisha.mukherjee@expressindia.com
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