- Catherine O'Hara was a Canadian-American actor who died on January 30, 2026, at age 71
- She won two Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
- O'Hara lived with situs inversus, a rare genetic condition with reversed organ placement
On January 30, 2026, the Canadian-American film industry lost a gem - Catherine O'Hara. She was an artist who had the power to instantly steal the focus in every frame she graced. From Home Alone and Beetlejuice to Schitt's Creek, the actor has delivered stellar performances, leaving an indelible mark on the industry.
In a career spanning over five decades, the Canadian-American actor won several accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Catherine O'Hara was a public personality, but she kept her personal life quite private, revealing only what she wanted to. In 2020, she opened up about living with a rare genetic condition on winemaker Kathryn Hall's Virtual Happy Hour.
Catherine O'Hara Lived With Situs Inversus
"I am a freak," she said on the show, laughing, and added, "I don't even know the name because I don't want to know the name."
The actor shared that the rare genetic condition she lived with was situs inversus, in which some organs in the body are placed in reverse. She discovered this around 20 years ago during a doctor's visit with her husband, Bo Welch.
"I love Western medicine, I just don't want to be a part of it. But I had to get a TB test when our youngest was in co-op nursery school, and I went to my husband's doctor, and he said let's do some baseline tests, and one of them was an EKG," she shared, recalling the diagnosis.
The doctor used two different EKG machines to conclude the diagnosis, and it baffled Catherine O'Hara. "I was like, 'What is happening?' He calls us into his office and says, 'You're the first one I've met!'" the actor remembered.
"I'm one of seven kids, and my parents were already gone and left the world by that time. Never heard anything about this," she said during the interview. "We're driving home, and I think, 'I wonder about my other siblings if they know where their hearts are!'"
"When the doctor told us that my heart was on the right side and my organs were flipped, my husband immediately said, 'No, her head's on backwards,'" she chuckled, adding, "Cheers to health!"
What Is Situs Inversus
According to the Cleveland Clinic, situs inversus is a condition in which the organs in the chest and belly develop in a reverse position, opposite to the normal anatomy. The normal placement is called situs solitus. There are different variations of this disorder.
What Catherine O'Hara lived with was dextrocardia, a condition in which the tip of the heart points towards the right side of the chest, and other organs are also flipped.
This rare genetic condition affects 1 in every 10,000 people. It is a more common condition among males. Situs inversus is usually inherited when both parents pass on the mutated genes. There are more than 100 gene mutations that are linked to this condition.
According to the report, a person may live with this condition and not present any symptoms. Even if the organs are reversed, they are still functional. Unless a person has to undergo any tests like Catherine O'Hara had to, they would never find out about the disorder.
How Catherine O'Hara Died
Catherine O'Hara was 71 when she was admitted to a hospital in a "serious condition", according to reports. Her representatives at Creative Artists Agency confirmed that O'Hara died in Los Angeles "following a brief illness".
Further details regarding the cause of her death have not been disclosed.
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