Three actors who played children with Catherine O’Hara on screen gathered at the Emmys to say goodbye to her, each recalling why she showed up whenever they needed her.
Opening the Show
The In Memoriam segment began with an unexpected entry on stage. Macauley Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy appeared together to honor the actress who played their mothers across two of television’s most beloved shows. Their appearance marked the first farewell of the evening, and it landed harder than anyone expected.
What Culkin Said
Culkin, now 46, opened with a joke that had a serious edge. He reminded everyone that his Home Alone mother forgot him twice, which earned a laugh. Then he grew quiet, struggling to get through his words about the woman he called “mama.”
“She always showed up when I asked her to,” Culkin said. “Because that’s Catherine. That’s what she did. She showed up. And this is the best that we can do for her tonight.”
The First Farewell
The segment carried the weight of the year. Jamie Lee Curtis paid tribute to Rob Reiner and James Burrows, and those moments were touching in their own right. But the first farewell belonged to O’Hara, and it landed harder because it was unexpected. Fans of all-time funny women saw her name on screen, and then they saw the people she raised on screen return to say goodbye.
The tribute worked because it was intimate. These are actors who spent years pretending to be her children. Now they were doing the same thing for real, in front of millions of viewers.
The Weight of the Moment
The In Memoriam segment exists to honor people who have died. It is a solemn duty, and it asks the audience to sit with loss. The segment also asks the performers to sit with it, often in front of cameras that record every tremor.
O’Hara’s onscreen children met that moment head-on. They simply said what they felt, and they said it with their voices cracking.
Here is what each actor contributed to the tribute:
- Culkin opened with the joke about his Home Alone mother forgetting him twice.
- Murphy recalled why O’Hara showed up when she needed her.
- Levy remembered the woman he called “mama.”
The result was a tribute that felt earned. It was not a performance. It was a farewell from people who knew her intimately, and they chose to share that knowledge with anyone watching.
See the video the story is built around at The A.V. Club.
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