Macaulay Culkin’s beautiful tribute to his “mom” Catherine O’Hara

Invited on the stage of the 2026 Emmy Awards, the actor paid tribute to the memory of the woman who played his mother in Maman, I missed the plane.

The Emmy Awards took the time to say goodbye to Catherine O’Hara.

Suddenly passed away last January at the age of 71 – after a brief illness – the unforgettable actress of Maman, I missed the plane and Schitt’s Creek was celebrated on stage by her “children” of the small screen: Macaulay Culkin, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy.

“Catherine O’Hara, we remember her as this absent-minded mother, right? But we will never forget her,” Macaulay Culkin first said.

The actor, who played his son Kevin in Mom, I Missed the Plane and Mom, I Missed the Plane Again, then chose a word to evoke the one who was his cinema mother:

“There are all kinds of words I could use to describe Catherine. She was encouraging, warm, funny. But the word I think of is ‘Mom.’ She wasn’t just a wife and a mother to Bo and Matthew and Luke. She was… she was my mom. She was our mom, and by extension, she was the mom to all of us. By the way, call your mom tonight. Really.”

Culkin also recalled how Catherine O’Hara had always been there when he needed her. “Like a good mom, she was always there when I asked her to be, because she was Catherine. That’s what she did: she was there. And that’s the best we can do for her tonight. We’re here for her.”

A humorous reference to Mom, I Missed the Plane punctuated his tribute: “She may have forgotten to take me with her… twice, but we will always remember her.” In both films, Catherine O’Hara played Kate McCallister, Kevin’s mother, who each time realizes, with horror, that she left her son alone before doing everything to find him.

Dan Levy and Annie Murphy, who played his children David and Alexis Rose in the comedy Schitt’s Creek, also spoke about the special relationship they had with O’Hara away from the cameras.

“Catherine’s laugh was a perpetual ‘yes, and…’ She challenged anyone who heard her to join her and be as amazed as she was,” Annie Murphy said. “And she spread this joy everywhere.”

The actress also said she received many testimonies from spectators after the disappearance of her partner from Schitt’s Creek. Strangers sent her their condolences, proof that Catherine O’Hara had gone far beyond the scope of her roles to enter the hearts of the public.

Nominated 10 times for the Emmy Awards during her career, she won two statuettes.