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Topics: Celebrity, Cooking, TV and Film, News
Ella Scott
Fans are revisiting some of Catherine O’Hara’s most stellar scenes - and there’s one moment in particular flooding social media.
It was confirmed on 30 January that Beetlejuice and Home Alone star O’Hara had died at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness. She was 71.
Described as a ‘Canadian comedy legend’ by actor Tom Green and a ‘wonderful person, artist and collaborator’ by filmmaker and former actor Ron Howard, O’Hara’s lasting legacy includes The Studio, The Last of Us, and Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
However, many fans are more acquainted with the actress through her work on the CBC sitcom, Schitt’s Creek.
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On the 80-episode programme, created by Dan Levy and his father Eugene, O’Hara played eccentric former soap opera star and Rose family matriarch, Moira.
During the six-season show, Moira became the face of ‘Herb Ertlinger’s fruit wine’, claimed she killed a man, dramatically bawled over her beloved wigs, and even once took on the eccentric role of a crow.
Another fan-favourite moment saw the character trying to bond with her son, David Rose (played by Dan), by cooking in the kitchen.
The Schitt’s Creek segment, fondly referred to as the ‘fold in the cheese’ episode, took place in the sitcom’s second season.
The side-splitting moment started with the Rose family - David, Alexis (Annie Murphy) and John (Eugene) - discussing a chicken dish that someone who worked for the family used to whip up.
Moira alleged that the meal they were referring to was her mother’s ‘onchiladas’, and claimed she’d made it for the family ‘all the time’.
Later on, she enlisted David to whip up the Mexican staple while she read out the ingredients.
After clashing over whether chilli flakes had already been ‘sprinkled in’, the pair became stumped when they were instructed to ‘fold in the cheese’.
After squabbling over what ‘fold in the cheese’ meant, Moira soon noticed that the concoction was ‘bubbling’.
“David! What does burning smell like?,” she added.
The hilarious scene has resurfaced online, with fans paying tribute to O’Hara and her comedic timing.
“Whenever a recipe states ‘fold in’ I think of this and grin. It was a moment of comedy gold,” said one X user.
A second typed: “In honour of Catherine O’Hara, I started re-watching Schitt’s Creek last night. I got through season one and have the rest of the weekend to finish up the series. Pure genius.”
“This is hilarious, so sad we lost her,” replied another.
Someone else remarked: “’What does burning smell like?’ So simple yet so funny. God dammit she was so good.”
Back in 2020, co-creator Dan reminisced about the now-famous scene in an interview with Variety.
“I remember we wrote the ‘fold in the cheese' episode," he recalled.
"We were on set, and she was saying ‘enchilada,’ and I remember tiptoeing in and saying, ‘What if you said on ONchelada?’ And she was like, ‘Yep! Got it! Good.’”
He is among O'Hara's Schitt’s Creek co-stars to have shared heartfelt messages online following her death.
“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years,” he lamented.
“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. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke and every member of her big, beautiful family.”
Emily Hampshire, who played motel clerk Stevie Budd, said: “I find this impossible to believe. There was no one more alive than Catherine.
“She filled every moment with more life than most of us expend in days. So pathologically kind and generous that it inevitably seeped into her characters. I think that’s why you can’t help but love Moira’s blind narcissism—it’s carried by something deeply human underneath.”