Before Schitt’s Creek, Catherine O’Hara led a dark Stephen King TV adaptation

Catherine O’Hara, the Canadian-American actress everyone loved from Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone, died on January 30, 2026. She was 71. Her manager confirmed the news, saying she passed away in Los Angeles after a short illness.

Most people remember Catherine O’Hara for her sharp sense of humor, be it Moira Rose’s fantastically odd wigs, those hilarious one-liners, the panicked mom racing through airports in Home Alone, or her quirky roles with Christopher Guest in movies like Best in Show. But here’s something that slips under the radar: before she was a comedy icon, O’Hara actually starred in a TV adaptation of a Stephen King story back in the ’90s. Not many fans know about that little twist in her career.

A little-known chapter from Catherine O’Hara's career

In 1997, Catherine O’Hara had a part that was utterly different from the comedic work that most people are used to seeing her in. She was featured in one Episode of the anthology TV series The Outer Limits called The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson.

The Outer Limits was a sequel to the classic anthology series, a sci-fi/horror series, The Twilight Zone. The Episodes were independent stories with their characters and twist endings.

In this specific Episode, Catherine O’Hara played Becka Paulson, an unsatisfied housewife who leads a quiet and ordinary life. One day, she suffers a domestic accident, and she accidentally shoots herself in the head. That is dark enough to sound like a Stephen King story, but here is the weird twist: since the accident, Becka starts experiencing strange things, particularly about a photograph talking to her.

This plot is based on the original short story written by King, The Revelations of ’Becka Paulson, which is also a combination of the mundane life with disturbing psychological horror and dark humor. The Outer Limits adaptation retains that tone but transfers it to the TV screen, making the confusion of Becka and her changing perception of reality more visual and creepy rather than something internal.

Essentially, this was not a horror blockbuster. It did not have jump scares and monsters. Rather, the Episode is carried on the vibe and the more bizarre experience Becka undergoes following her injury. It is lean, a little uncomfortable, and almost quietly philosophical, the type of adaptation in which the horror resides in how ordinary existence may appear strange and unforeseeable when something profoundly goes amiss.

To those who enjoy the other shorter Stephen King works, it is a minor but welcome addition, in part because it is now difficult to find, and also because it is frequently overlooked in retailer and streaming guides when discussing Stephen King adaptations. But it is one of those secret treasures, in case you are interested in seeing Catherine O’Hara in a different light than people usually associate her with these days.

What is particularly interesting to look at retrospectively is how unfamiliar it is to the parts that made her a comedy star. Where Moira Rose or Kate McCallister is inclined towards timing and the character, Becka Paulson finds herself in a weird psychic position, half drama, half weird, and half dark humor.

And since the Episode was only shown on a niche anthology series with limited reruns, the vast majority of viewers who had grown up on the comedy of Catherine O’Hara were unaware of this Episode until many years later. It is frequently referred to in the retro television lists or in Stephen King fan boards as something of a curiosity: the sort of thing you come across and realize that she did this.

Catherine O’Hara, who has made millions of people laugh with her comic roles throughout the decades, whether in slapstick and sitcoms, or memorable character bits, once ventured into a more sinister region of TV narrative. The quiet, creepy adaptation of a Stephen King story is not what most fans think of first, but it demonstrates the depth of her work well before she became a legend in the modern comedy genre.

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And now that she passed away at 71, it would be good to remember not only the applause and the awards, but the entire gamut of performances that made her one of the most versatile and startling actors of her time.

She died at home in Los Angeles. Earlier that morning, she had been rushed to the hospital after sudden trouble breathing and a brief, intense illness, her reps said. There’s still no official word on the cause of death. What we do know is that first responders found her in serious condition, but she didn’t make it.

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