Catherine O’Hara, the Emmy-winning actress who starred as Kevin’s mother in Home Alone and the eccentric Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, has died.

The Canadian-American star won an Emmy award for lead actress for her role in Schitt’s Creek in 2020.

She died aged 71 on Friday at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness”, her agency Creative Artists Agency said in a statement.

She is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, and sons Matthew and Luke – her family will hold a private celebration of her life, the statement said.

In an entertainment career spanning more than 50 years, she gave a memorable turn as Kate McCallister, mother of Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, in the first two Home Alone films.

Culkin, who starred as the youngster accidentally left at home when his family leaves for a Christmas holiday in the 1990 classic, posted a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, calling her “Mama” and saying he thought they “had time”.

The pair reprised their roles in the 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York.

Michael Keaton, her co-star in the original Beetlejuice film from 1988, said on Instagram O’Hara had been “my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend.

“This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.”

Meryl Streep, who co-starred with O’Hara in the 1986 comedy drama Heartburn, said in a statement that O’Hara “brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed”.

O’Hara frequently collaborated with mockumentary pioneer Christopher Guest, becoming a key player in his ensemble and starring in Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show and A Mighty Wind.

Her popularity surged after the success of Schitt’s Creek, which dominated the 2021 Emmys following its sixth and final season, bringing O’Hara a new generation of fans.

The show’s creators, father and son duo, Dan and Eugene Levy, who co-starred in the series alongside O’Hara, both released statements in tribute.

Dan Levy wrote: “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 fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.”

And Eugene Levy wrote: “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today.

“I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty 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.”

O’Hara enjoyed a late-career renaissance that led to a serious role in HBO’s post-apocalypse drama, The Last Of Us, for which she was nominated for an Emmy.

Pedro Pascal, her costar, said on Instagram: “There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you.”

Starring in The Studio as Patty Leigh, O’Hara received both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

O’Hara’s career was launched at the Second City theatre in Toronto, where she was born, in the 1970s.

It was there that she first worked with Eugene Levy, who would become a lifelong collaborator – and her Schitt’s Creek co-star.

While at Second City, she helped create the sketch comedy show SCTV – in which both she and Levy appeared – and which helped launch the careers of other top Canadian comedians, including Andrea Martin and Martin Short.