• Eugene Levy remembered his lifelong costar Catherine O'Hara after her loss of life at 71.
• "Phrases appear insufficient to specific the loss I really feel as we speak," Levy stated.
• Throughout 5 many years, the actors co-starred in SCTV, Ready for Guffman, Finest in Present, A Mighty Wind, Schitt's Creek, and extra.

Eugene Levy is mourning his lifelong costar and pal Catherine O'Hara.

The American Pie actor shared a press release with Leisure Weekly on Saturday paying tribute to the late actress following her loss of life at 71.

"Phrases appear insufficient to specific the loss I really feel as we speak," Levy stated. "I had the dignity of understanding and dealing with the good Catherine O'Hara for over 50 years. From our beginnings on the Second Metropolis stage, to SCTV, to the flicks we did with Chris Visitor, to our six wonderful years on Schitt's Creek, I cherished our working relationship, however most of all our friendship."

Levy went on to specific his sympathy with O'Hara's husband, manufacturing designer Bo Welch, and the couple's two sons. "I’ll miss her," he stated. "My coronary heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and your complete O'Hara household."

Levy and O'Hara have been inextricably linked since their early days in Toronto's comedy scene within the Nineteen Seventies. The duo met when she was a waitress at Second Metropolis improv theater and Eugene was within the forged.

In a 2014 Buzzfeed interview, Levy recalled O'Hara's first try to hitch the Second Metropolis forged. "I bear in mind the audition, and it was a very good audition, and I feel the overall feeling was she was just a bit younger," he stated.

O'Hara finally joined the Second Metropolis forged six months later after Gilda Radner departed the troupe to hitch Saturday Evening Dwell in 1975.

Catherine O'Hara's final role was in 'The Studio' — what we know about her involvement in season 2 Remembering the final 'Schitt's Creek' reunion before Catherine O'Hara's death

From there, the 2 comedians co-starred on the sketch collection SCTV alongside John Sweet, Rick Moranis, Martin Quick, Joe Flaherty, Harold Ramis, Andrea Martin, and Dave Thomas. The present aired in numerous iterations from 1976 to 1984, although O'Hara left the present for a interval in the midst of its run and subsequently returned. O'Hara and Levy additionally appeared in supporting roles within the 1980 movies Nothing Private, which additionally starred Suzanne Somers and Donald Sutherland, and Lethal Companion, starring Sweet and Anthony Perkins.

All through the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, O'Hara and Levy c-ostarred in 4 comedies helmed by director Christopher Visitor: 1996's Ready for Guffman, 2000's Finest in Present, 2003's A Mighty Wind, and 2006's For Your Consideration. Co-written by Levy and Visitor, the mockumentary movies allowed the actors to point out off their ad-libbing abilities, as most of their dialogue was improvised.

After taking part in estranged folk-singing couple Mitch and Mickey in A Mighty Wind, Levy and O'Hara carried out the fictional duo's signature track, "A Kiss on the Finish of the Rainbow," written by their costar Michael McKean and his spouse, Annette O'Toole, on the 2004 Academy Awards. Levy and O'Hara additionally voiced a pair of porcupines within the 2006 DreamWorks animated movie Over the Hedge.

The pair skilled profession renaissances with the success of their sitcom Schitt's Creek, which ran from 2015 to 2020. Each earned Emmys for his or her lead performances within the present's last season in 2020. That very same yr, they lent their voices to the documentary Canada Far and Huge, which performed on the Canada Pavilion in Epcot at Walt Disney World.

Levy's son, Dan Levy, who co-created and starred on Schitt's Creek, additionally remembered O'Hara after her loss of life on Friday. "What a present to have gotten to bounce within the heat glow of Catherine O'Hara's brilliance for all these years," he wrote on Instagram. "Having spent over 50 years collaborating with my dad, Catherine was prolonged household earlier than she ever performed my household. It's onerous to think about a world with out her in it. I’ll cherish each humorous reminiscence I used to be lucky sufficient to make along with her."

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Levy and O'Hara mirrored on their comedic chemistry whereas talking with Buzzfeed. "Your concepts are all the time actually nice," Levy instructed his frequent costar. "Your capacity to provide you with traces and concepts in your character are stuff you simply can't discover while you're hiring simply any person who can't do this type of factor."

"There have been occasions the place we had discussions that verged on some pressure," O'Hara admitted. "However with Eugene — that is the stunning factor about working with a pal who you like and respect, and I actually love and respect Eugene — he’s actually humorous, he's very considerate in his work, he's a terrific author, and a terrific actor. So even when it will get into an argument, I consider that there's no different crap in the way in which. It's all about making this the most effective it may be. And I hope he believes the identical of me."

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