Hi all, and welcome back to So Desensitized! Today’s post was going to be about something else, and then Catherine O’Hara died and I just didn’t feel right about acting like that didn’t happen. So here’s a short memorial post of sorts for an absolute legend in so many categories, gone much too soon.

Most genre fans knew Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, and most modern viewers knew her as Moira Rose, and just about everyone knew her best as Kate McAllister of Home Alone. She was undeniably brilliant in every role she played, unhinged, hilarious, and weird as hell. She was unapologetic in a way that is exceedingly rare, and inspired many women to take up the space they deserved, that they could still be good mothers and have careers, and lives, and idiosyncrasies, and be their own people through it all. But overall, the thing I have heard most about her both since her passing and during her life is that she was kind. That she cared for everyone as if they were her own family, and that everyone who worked with her was never treated with anything but kindness. The best known example of this is, of course, her relationship with Macauley Culkin following Home Alone, but by all accounts, that’s just how she was. She made the world a kinder, funnier, and more caring place by being in it, and I think that’s something we should all take with us moving forward into 2026.

I did a post similar to this last week, about David Lynch, since I didn’t do one when he actually passed away a little over a year ago, mostly because I didn’t know what the hell to say. And I still don’t. About either him or Ms. O’Hara. Partly because it feels strange to me that she of all people died. I always had the sense that if Death showed up for her she’d say “Oh, I’m sorry, there’s been some mistake - I’m Catherine O’Hara,” And he’d say “I’m sorry ma’am, have a nice day,” and leave. But mostly because when someone who had that much of a positive impact on this world leaves it, it’s hard to find something to say that hasn’t already been said by countless other people, and trying to say something real about someone you didn’t even really know is hard enough as it is. But the thing about artists in particular is that they have art that you can show people, interviews to show how they were in life, things that you can point to and say ‘that’s what I loved, and that’s how we should honor this person’, things that countless people all over the country are looking at right now and saying exactly that. Things that show you that you are not alone in feeling the loss of this person, even if you didn’t known them personally. And for an artist with as long of a career as Catherine O’Hara had, those examples are not in short supply. People and artists mean different things to everyone, but in cases like this, that just means that this can be taken as an opportunity to share with other people what you loved about this absolute icon, because there is so much to love.

So whether you knew her as Kate McAllister, or Delia Deetz, or Sally, or Moira Rose, or any of the numbered roles she played over the years, try to be a little more Catherine O’Hara in the coming days. Be weird and unapologetic and goth. Make other people laugh. Care for others. Wear a glove as a hat. Make your space and style your own. Be inexplicable. And, more than anything, be kind and make art, dangerous or not.

Thanks for reading. 💚🪲🌹