Inside Catherine O'Hara's reclusive final days: Heartbroken husband Bo Welch breaks cover... as friends reveal how couple 'kept them in the dark' about 'mystery' illness

In death as in life, the beloved actress Catherine O'Hara keenly protected her privacy.

The Canadian-American star passed away in Los Angeles, California, on Friday, leaving behind a husband and two children, a legacy of iconic comedic roles and millions of devastated fans. She was 71 years old.

So far the details are scant. A statement from her talent agency said she had succumbed to 'a brief illness'.

An LA Fire Department spokesperson said that 'at 4:48am [Friday] we responded to a request for medical aid.' And a brief 911 audio recording appears to reveal dispatchers referring to her having 'difficulty breathing'.

New photos obtained exclusively by the Daily Mail captured her heartbroken husband, production designer Bo Welch, for the first time since her passing in LA on Friday.

But while Welch, 74, may have known this was coming, it seems that many of those closest to O'Hara were kept in the dark about her condition during her final days.

It has, sources say, left some friends in 'complete shock'. 

According to one source, O'Hara was spotted at SUR Restaurant in West Hollywood just a few weeks ago on January 13. 

The popular venue, owned by reality star Lisa Vanderpump, was hosting an event for Supermodels Unlimited magazine, but O'Hara managed to dodge any pictures.

She was, the source said, 'in great spirits'.

'As quickly as she was seen, she left, but she looked healthy for a 71 year old,' the source added.

O'Hara had seemed noticeably thin during her last public appearance – at the Emmy Awards back in September last year. And she was then absent from the Golden Globes, held earlier this month, despite having been nominated for an award.

Paul Herman, a retired physician who has lived next door to O'Hara in the affluent Brentwood neighborhood of LA for over 25 years, told the Daily Mail that he had 'no knowledge' of her mystery illness.

The Golden Globes absence had made him a 'little bit suspicious', he said, but added that he hadn't properly seen O'Hara out in Brentwood in 'years'.

'Bo and Catherine were always very pleasant. They were just the kindest, most agreeable neighbors,' he said.

It would all be in keeping with a life almost uniquely devoid of controversy or intrigue by Hollywood standards. 

Despite having spent over 40 years in the spotlight – enjoying genuinely A-list fame thanks to roles in hit movies such as Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985), Beetlejuice (1988) and, of course, Home Alone (1990) – not much was ever known about O'Hara's politics. 

Her two adult sons live completely private lives. And she had been happily married to Welch since 1992.

Years ago, O'Hara revealed that she had been diagnosed with situs inversus – a rare genetic condition in which major internal organs sit on the mirror opposite side of the body from their normal positions. 

'I'm a freak,' the actress joked in a 2020 interview.

The condition is generally harmless and there is no suggestion that it brought about her death.

It was at their home in Brentwood that O'Hara and Welch, who met on the set of Beetlejuice in the late 80s, raised their two sons – Matthew, born in 1994, and Luke, born in 1997.

While it is unclear exactly how long she had been in poor health, O'Hara was noticeably emotional at the Toronto International Film Festival – held a week before the Emmys on September 7 last year – where her longtime friend and former Schitt's Creek co-star Eugene Levy presented her with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award. 

'Darling Eugene. When I think of my happiest days in this adventure in show business, I realize most of them have been with you,' she said.

Like Levy, O'Hara was one of several prominent comedians who got their start with the comedy troupe Second City – based in her hometown of Toronto, Canada.

Together, they helped launch the troupe's televised sketch show, SCTV – for which O'Hara won her first Emmy Award in 1982.

Her big break into cinema then came in 1988, as Delia Deetz in Tim Burton's iconic horror-comedy Beetlejuice.

But it was her touching performance as Macaulay Culkin's mother, in the 1990 instant-classic Christmas movie Home Alone, that warmed the hearts of millions.

Culkin, now 45, was among the first to pay tribute to O'Hara on Friday.

Taking to Instagram, the actor shared a side-by-side photo of himself and O'Hara as mother-and-son duo in Home Alone alongside a recent image of the pair.

'Mama. I thought we had time,' Culkin wrote. 'I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you but I had so much more to say. I love you. I'll see you later.'

Ever true to her improv roots, O'Hara also collaborated with legendary director and screenwriter Christopher Guest in a number of critically acclaimed mockumentaries, including 1996's Waiting for Guffman, 2000's Best in Show, 2003's A Mighty Wind and 2006's For Your Consideration.

Guest, who is married to actress Jamie Lee Curtis, said in a statement on Friday per Variety: 'I am devastated. We have lost one of the comic giants of our age. I send my love to her family.'

In recent years, O'Hara enjoyed a career resurgence as the eccentric Moira Rose in all 80 episodes of Schitt's Creek, the sitcom that was co-created by her close friend Levy and his actor son Dan Levy.

In 2020, she received another Emmy for her lead actress role.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for O'Hara for comment.