Remembering Catherine O'Hara - Hollywood Suite
- Apr 12
- 3 min read
Catherine O’Hara left behind a great legacy of film roles, and this April we’re proud to highlight her work alongside her long-time comedy partner Eugene Levy in three hilarious mockumentaries from actor/writer/director Christopher Guest.
Corky St. Clair, an aspiring director and playwright with "off-off-off-off Broadway" experience leads an amateur cast of local odd-balls in a shoestring budget musical about the history of their small Missouri town in celebration of its 150th anniversary. When Corky receives news that New York theatre critic Mort Guffman will be in attendance at the premiere (and only) performance, the already chaotic production goes off the rails.
Catherine O'Hara stars as Sheila Albertson, a kooky travel agent (who has never left her hometown), and a regular in Corky's theatre productions. Timid in everyday life (at least when she's sober), Sheila is a loud and commanding performer. O'Hara brings her A-game to the obliviously untalented Sheila, with some of the best “bad acting” ever put to film.
Released in 1996, Waiting for Guffman was Christopher Guest's first attempt at directing an improvisational mockumentary film in the style he pioneered with Harry Sheerer, Michael McKeen and Rob Reiner for 1984's This is Spinal Tap. The film was widely lauded by critics and earned three Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Following up on Waiting for Guffman's cult success, 2000's Best in Show follows five champion canines and their eccentric owners and handlers as they travel to Philadelphia to compete in the prestigious Mayflower Dog Show, an obvious parody of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
O'Hara and Levy play Cookie and Gerry Fleck, a lower-middle class Florida couple who own the adorable Norwich Terrier Winky. Cookie and Gerry make an unlikely couple – confident Cookie has a history of literally hundreds of lovers (several of whom the pair encounter on their journey), whereas the awkward and bumbling Gerry has two left feet. Literally.
Like Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show's dialogue was largely improvised, with Guest filming 60 hours of footage for the film's 90 minute run time. The film was a box office success, earning $20.8 million on its $10 million budget, compared to Waiting for Guffman's slim $2.9 million haul on a $4 million budget. Levy, who co-wrote the film with Guest, credited its mainstream success to the more accessible nature of its content, saying "People just love dogs."
A Mighty Wind captures the reunion of 1960s folk bands as they prepare for a show at New York’s famed Town Hall auditorium to memorialize a recently deceased concert promoter.
O'Hara plays Mickey Crabbe, a French-Canadian folk songstress who is reunited with her long-estranged lover and musical partner Mitch Cohen played by Eugene Levy. In contrast to her performances in the two earlier films by Guest, O'Hara plays Mickey totally straight, letting the comedy come from the song lyrics and Levy's odd-ball antics. The romantic tension between the two adds heart and drama to A Mighty Wind's otherwise non-stop comedy romp. The duo's iconic song "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" written by McKean and his wife Annette O'Toole, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, and was performed in character at the ceremony by O'Hara and Levy.
The original concept of the film was to create a vehicle to revive The Folksman, a washed-up 1960s folk band created by Christopher Guest and co-stars Harry Shearer and Michael McKean for an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1984, the same year the three starred as the titular heavy metal band in This is Spinal Tap. Featuring a massive ensemble cast, including all the main players from Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, A Mighty Wind is filled to the brim with catchy tunes you won't be able to get out of your head.
Thanks for the lovely reminder of Catherine O’Hara’s hilarious work with Eugene Levy—those Guest mockumentaries are pure gold. Speaking of timing, I’ve been using Free Analog Clock Online to brush up on reading clock faces, and it’s surprisingly fun.
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