Catherine O'Hara: Moira Rose Would Celebrate an Emmys Win 'from the Bed ... Something Very Dramatic'
'Schitt's Creek' Star Catherine O'Hara Reveals How Moira Rose Would Celebrate Her Emmy Win
The actress on her hit character.
Schitt's Creek star Catherine O'Hara has a new bébé to show off: A shiny Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy, and she knows just how her over-the-top character, a soap actress hoping for a big comeback, would celebrate.
O'Hara, 66, told PeopleTV that Moira Rose "would have accepted the 'Emmanuel' in a very different way," she joked, affecting her distinctive Moira accent.
"I think Moira would've done some kind of acceptance from the bed, like Joan Crawford," O'Hara said. "Something very dramatic."
She added, "I'm lucky I'm not her. I got to be with my friends."
O'Hara continued, "I love that idea that maybe Moira would have accepted —virtually, with no audience— and imagined they were [giving a standing ovation] in their homes." Returning to her Moira Rose accent, she imagined the character saying, "Please, sit down! Please, sit down! I must continue! Please! I have some thank yous!"
O'Hara, 66, who has played the Rose family matriarch for Schitt's Creek's six season run, accepted her award among her cast and crew at a viewing party in Toronto. Also nominated for the award were Linda Cardellini, Christina Applegate, Rachel Brosnahan, Issa Rae, and Tracee Ellis Ross.
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Her award was presented in a way her fictional character would appreciate: With drama and a little fire. After host Jimmy Kimmel and presenter Jennifer Aniston lit the winning envelope on fire (and promptly put it out), O'Hara was announced as the winner.
“This is so cool,” she said. “I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age — my age — who gets to fully be her ridiculous self." The award is O'Hara's first for acting and first solo Emmy; she took home an award in 1982 for outstanding writing in a variety or music program for SCTV Network. She has been nominated a total of eight times.
O'Hara also thanked her "wardrobe whisperer," "guardian makeup angel" and "dare-doing hair wrangler," which every Schitt's Creek fan knows is responsible for her character's iconic wigs, eccentric outfits and overall aesthetic.
O'Hara even slipped into and out of character, calling her Emmy a "trophial treat" and saying she would be an "ungrateful doddypoll" not to share it.
The show itself swept its category after being nominated for 15 Emmy Awards for its final season. Among them were the award for best comedy, outstanding lead actor (Eugene Levy), supporting actor (Daniel Levy) and supporting actress (Annie Murphy).
