Oh, this is so, so sad.
During Sunday night’s 2026 Actor Awards, formerly the SAG Awards, the late Catherine O’Hara won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her work in The Studio. The win comes just one month after her heartbreaking death on January 30 at age 71. She passed due to a pulmonary embolism, with a secret battle with rectal cancer listed as an underlying cause.
Her The Studio co-star Seth Rogen stepped on stage to receive the award for Catherine, who got a teary standing ovation from the whole room. He explained:
“I was asked to assume the very sad honor of accepting this award on [Catherine] O’Hara’s behalf. I know she would have been honored to receive this award from her fellow performers, who I know she respected so much. She was such a big fan of all of yours.”
Related: Catherine O’Hara’s Pals Are In ‘Complete Shock’ By Sudden Death
Seth went on to praise Catherine’s work ethic, sharing:
“I obviously have been reflecting on the time I was fortunate to have spent with her and working with her. Something I’ve been marveling over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious while never ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing.”
He reflected:
“She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.”
He even revealed for the first time publicly that before every one of Catherine’s scenes on the hit AppleTV+ show, she’d send an email to Seth and his co-creator, saying:
“It said, ‘Hello! I hope you’ll consider the following,’ and then there would be a completely rewritten version of the scene she was in. Literally, 100 percent of the time. It made not just her character better, but it made the scene better and the entire show better. She really showed that you can be a genius and be kind, and one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any shape or form.”
Whoa! Amazing!
She worked on that show up until the very end, too…
Ending his heartfelt speech, the screenwriter encouraged everyone to continue to introduce the actress’s work to new generations of future fans, noting:
“We were lucky to live in a world where she shared her talents with us.”
So, so sweet. Watch the moving speech (below):
Gosh, it’s just devastating that she’s not here to accept this award herself. It was just a few short months ago that she was attending these award shows. Hard to believe how much has changed in the blink of an eye, but what an important reminder this is of how well-loved and talented she was.
May she rest in peace.
[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN & Netflix/YouTube]
