Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the August 25 edition of Sunday Life.
See all 13 stories . Though she had established herself as one of the stars of Toronto’s iconic improvisational comedy troupe The Second City, and stepped into the limelight-adjacent as an understudy to the legendary Gilda Radner, Catherine O’Hara’s Hollywood story begins in a rental car, in the pre-mobile phone era. “I’m so glad that we didn’t go further than a date or two,” she says of her frequent comedy collaborator, Eugene Levy.
Credit: Contour by Getty Images It was 1988, in Los Angeles’ hot, dry San Fernando Valley, and our star-in-the-making was on her way to Warner Brothers to audition for a role in a film named Beetlejuice , directed by another legend, Tim Burton. But minutes turned to hours, and hours turned into streets and neighbourhoods that didn’t look like Hollywood. “After driving forever I was thinking, I don’t know who this guy is, but he can’t be in showbusiness because his office is far out,” O’Hara says, laughing.
Eventually, she pulled her rental car to the side of the road, called her agent from a payphone and realised she was hopelessly lost. When she finally found her way back to the Warner Bros lot, she was directed to the bungalow that served as Burton.