Seth Rogen has opened up about the emotional moment he accepted Catherine O’Hara’s Actor Award following her death.
The Studio creator and star delivered a heartfelt tribute at Sunday’s ceremony as he stepped onstage to accept the posthumous award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. O’Hara died in January at age 71.
Calling the moment “very sad,” Rogen told Extra, “It’s something I wish I didn’t have to do at all, but I’m so happy she won. I know she would have been so proud to win. She was very proud of her work on the show, put so much into it, and respected everyone in that room.”
During his speech, Rogen reflected on O’Hara’s dedication, recalling how she would email him before filming with ideas for scenes. When asked whether the cast would continue that tradition, Kathryn Hahn joked, “I don’t think any of our notes would be better than Catherine’s. It would just be a waste of time.”
Onstage, Rogen praised O’Hara’s “ability to be generous and kind and gracious” without ever downplaying her own talent.
“I know she would have been honored to receive this award from her fellow performers, whom I know she respected so much,” he said. “I’ve been reflecting on the time I was fortunate enough to spend working with her, and what I’ve been marveling at is her ability to be generous and kind and gracious while never minimizing her own talents or her ability to contribute to the work we were doing. She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.”
The Studio also won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, and Rogen took home Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for the Apple TV Hollywood satire, which has been renewed for a second season.
The cast canceled a planned press day following O’Hara’s death. At the time, Rogen shared an emotional tribute on Instagram.
“Really don’t know what to say,” he wrote. “I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honor.
“She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous. She made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.”
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