Dan Levy says love for Catherine O'Hara after death brought him comfort

Dan Levy took "great comfort" in the outpouring of love towards Catherine O'Hara following her death two months ago.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday night, the Schitt's Creek actor reflected on the response to his co-star's death on 30 January.

After Fallon told him he was "so sorry about the passing" of the Home Alone actress, Levy replied, "Listen, it's like a collective loss, I think. She was the greatest. She's irreplaceable. I think the great comfort for me has just been to see how loved she was. The outpouring, everyone felt like they kind of knew her."

Fallon described O'Hara as "one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen", to which the Canadian actor said, "(She was) unbelievably talented at improvising... One of the great, great, great queens."

O'Hara, who died at the age of 71, played Moira Rose alongside Levy as her son David in the hit sitcom Schitt's Creek between 2015 and 2020. The comedy also starred Levy's father, Eugene Levy, with whom O'Hara had a professional partnership since the 1970s, starring in films such as Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.

Paying tribute to the Beetlejuice actress on Instagram in January, Dan Levy wrote, "What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O'Hara's brilliance for all those years. 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."

O'Hara died of a pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lungs, while rectal cancer was listed as the underlying cause, according to her death certificate.

She posthumously won an Actor Award for her performance in The Studio in March.