Following the unexpected death of Catherine O’Hara, the late actress’s eulogy for her Home Alone co-star, John Candy, resurfaced.
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O’Hara spoke out about her dear friend during his Toronto memorial service on March 18, 1994. The duo had met 20 years before Candy died of a heart attack at the age of 43.
“I have my own story,” the acting icon said. “In 1974, I auditioned for John Candy, director of the Second City Touring company, and he hired me. Yeah, John Candy thought, oh, it was funny.”
She then said, “The main cast, he drove us all the way to Chicago to play their Second City stage, and I had a crush on him, of course, but he was deeply in love with Rose.”
Catherine O’Hara also spoke about how she became friends with John Candy, and she would close the Chicago bars with him “just to be with him.”
“We did SCTV together when we all tried to come up with opening credits that would somehow tell the audience exactly what we were trying with the show to say about TV. It was John who said, ‘Why don’t we just throw a bunch of TVs off a building?'”
O’Hara further spoke about Candy’s kindness and generosity. She joked about how he’d negotiate contract provisions for all the castmates. To do this, Candy would promise to skip out on his own provisions, with one of the contracts’ addenda stating, “With the exception of John.”
Catherine O’Hara Last Project With John Candy Was ‘Home Alone’
Continuing to speak about her longtime friendship with John Candy, Catherine O’Hara said her last project with him was Home Alone.
“The last time I got to work with John was on Home Alone,” she pointed out. “He could give them one day, so they took him for 17 hours of improvising.”
She further reflected on Candy’s work. “John gave himself so completely to every role, big or small, not just because we all came to expect it from him, but because he loved doing it.”
“He really had fun, and when he laughed, he’d throw his head back and put his hand to his heart and let out welps, punctuated by these exhilarated silences,” she shared. “No, not the Johnny LaRue laugh. No, not the William B. William laughs. The real John Candy laugh.”
O’Hara went on to share the impact Candy had on her. “”I realize when I think of John, it’s not in terms of details. I think of John in terms of the big picture. That is why we so mourn our loss, but we treasure it as well. John’s life had meaning John had principles. He lived by them. He worked by them.”
She also said Candy set a good example in many ways and was a protector. “He cared if he felt you’ve been wronged in any way, he risked everything to make it right, to make you know you were worth something, too. In a business that indulges the weaker souls where the insecure lend other words with far too much meaning.”
At the end of her speech, O’Hara declared, “God bless dear John, our patron saint of laughter. God bless and keep his soul. I will miss him, but I hope and pray to leave this world too someday. And to have a place near God as near as any other soul, with the exception of John.”