NEED TO KNOW
- The 2026 Westminster Dog Show paid tribute to Catherine O’Hara during the final night of the event
- The late actress starred as dog owner Cookie Fleck in the 2000 comedy Best in Show
- O’Hara died on Jan. 30 at the age of 71 following “a brief illness”
The 2026 Westminster Dog Show honored the late Catherine O’Hara with a touching tribute less than a week after her death.
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, the 150th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Presented by Purina Pro Plan took a moment to reflect on the Canadian-American actress, comedian, and screenwriter’s humor and talent, including her role in the 2000 Christopher Guest mockumentary, Best in Show, which pokes fun at the human personalities on display during a professional dog show.
In Best in Show, O’Hara — who starred in the film alongside Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jane Lynch — plays Cookie Fleck, an energetic and formerly promiscuous dog owner from Florida, who enters her Norwich Terrier, Winky, into the fictional Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show.
Westminster’s tribute to O’Hara appeared on the jumbotron at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, where the final night of the dog show was held, ahead of the Terrier Group judging, a nod to O’Hara’s Norwich-terrier-owning character in Best in Show.
For the tribute, the dog show played a brief collection of clips from O’Hara’s expansive film and TV career, then displayed the late star’s name and the text “A true legend, timeless talent, and icon.”
O’Hara died in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 30, at the age of 71, “after a brief illness,” her rep confirmed to PEOPLE.
Just before she was transported to a hospital, the Los Angeles Fire Department received a call at 4:48 a.m. that morning for an “approximately 70-year-old” woman at her home address who was “in serious condition.”
Dispatch audio revealed that the person in distress at the address was having “breathing difficulty.”
Following news of O’Hara’s death, many of her fans and colleagues shared their condolences, including her longtime acting partner, Eugene Levy, who played her husband in Best in Show.
Throughout her years-long career, the Emmy-winning actress starred in Beetlejuice, Schitt’s Creek, and Wyatt Earp. She also voiced Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
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O’Hara is survived by her husband of 33 years, production designer Bo Welch, and their two grown sons, Luke and Matthew.
Penny, a 4-year-old Doberman Pinscher, won Best in Show at Tuesday’s event, triumphing over more than 2,500 other dogs for the title.
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