CNN
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He’s the boy who was left to his own devices in everyone’s favorite holiday comedy, and on Friday he got some recognition in Hollywood.
Macaulay Culkin, star of ’90s classics “Home Alone” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” among many other titles, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week. There to congratulate him was his onscreen mom from the beloved franchise, Catherine O’Hara.
O’Hara – who famously realized she left her son “Kevin!” home while on a plane to France for Christmas in the 1990 Chris Columbus and John Hughes movie – said on Friday that the reason “Home Alone” was and is so beloved is because of Culkin.
“It is Macaulay’s perfect performance as Kevin McAllister that gave us that little everyboy on an extraordinary adventure,” she said.
“I know you worked really hard,” O’Hara continued, “but you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do.”
As Culkin stood beside her, looking suave while decked out in wayfarer shades and a double-breasted black suit, O’Hara got choked up as she called him “the dearest thing.”
She also made reference to the crushing popularity of the films and how that sudden stardom could have proven to be too much for Culkin, but credited his sense of humor as what helped him persevere.
“It’s a sign of intelligence in a child, and a key to surviving life at any age,” O’Hara observed, adding, “from what I see, you have brought that sense of sweet, yet twisted, yet totally relatable sense of humor to everything that you have chosen to do since ‘Home Alone.’”
“Thank you for including me, your fake mom who left you home alone not once, but twice, to share in this happy occasion,” O’Hara concluded. “I’m so proud of you.”
Also in attendance at the ceremony on Friday were Culkin’s partner Brenda Song, siblings Rory Culkin and Quinn Culkin, and friends Paris Jackson and Seth Green. Culkin’s “Party Monster” costar Natasha Lyonne also made a speech in “Mac’s” honor.