But aside from her fan encounter, Catherine later got to know Eugene personally when they worked together as performers in Second City theater.
The pair reunited four decades later to costar with Dan in Schitt's Creek, which ran from 2015 to 2020.
Though as Dan previously shared, Catherine was initially hesitant to play the eccentric mom of two.
"She had done the presentation pilot," he told Variety in 2020, adding how dad Eugene came into play. "When the show got picked up, we had to go back to her and ask. She was really reluctant—justifiably so. It was a big unknown, and television is a commitment. My dad called me and said, 'I don’t think she’s going to do it.'"
However, he didn't give up that easy.
"I took that philosophy, and went to my dad and said, 'You have to call her back one last time. And please tell her—one season. Because at the end of the day, if she does it and she hates it, then we clearly are not making a good show anyway. Just see what she says to that,'" he recalled. "Then 45 minutes later, he called me back and said she’s in."
And once Catherine—already known for her roles in Home Alone, Beetlejuice, Best in Show and more—was in, it changed everything.
“I was nervous about not being able to come up with another character,” she told Vanity Fair in April 2025, adding of her signature voice for Moira, “I was afraid I was not going to be able to lose it, that I would naturally go into that voice. But no, I’ve lost it. I’ve definitely lost it.”
But her character was a gift that kept on giving during the course of the show's Emmy-winning six-season run.
Throughout her career, Catherine's roles involved collaborative projects—a factor she was keenly proud of.
"Why work alone if you don’t have to?" she told The New Yorker in 2019. "It’s all give and take. It’s all about listening to others and contributing."
Keep reading for more celebrities who paid tribute to Catherine after her passing...
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