It’s the first Halloween season without Catherine O’Hara, and suddenly Jack and Sally feel a little different.
The idea of Jack facing his first Halloween “without his Sally” is enough to make a familiar movie feel unexpectedly sad. O’Hara gave Sally her voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas, and this year, the woman behind that voice is gone.
According to Reuters, O’Hara died on January 30, 2026, at 71. That makes this October the first Halloween season since her death.
And yes, that one hurts.
Catherine O’Hara gave Halloween Town its Sally
If you knew her best as Kevin’s mom in Home Alone or Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, Sally might not have been the first role you associated with her. But Disney’s D23 credits O’Hara as the voice of both Sally and Shock in the film.
Two very different corners of Halloween Town. One unforgettable performer.
Sally is the quiet counterweight to Jack’s enormous plans. She can see the trouble coming, cares about him anyway, and has a whole emotional life beyond being the girl waiting for the Pumpkin King to notice her.
There’s something especially tender about remembering the real person who helped make that stitched-together character feel so human.
“Sally’s Song” has a different kind of sadness this year
O’Hara also performed “Sally’s Song,” as Universal Music’s uDiscover Music notes in its soundtrack retrospective. It was already the kind of song that could stop the spooky fun for a minute and leave you sitting with Sally’s feelings.
This Halloween, there’s another reason to listen a little more closely.
The movie itself hasn’t changed. Sally is still there. Jack still has her. That’s what makes the “first Halloween without Sally” sentiment both heartbreaking and a little comforting: we’re missing Catherine, while the performance she left us remains.
We can press play and hear her again.
So this year, when Sally’s moment comes, let it have its moment. Behind that familiar voice was a woman who gave us something we can keep returning to, every Halloween and every Christmas.
Thank you for our Sally, Catherine.
