Catherine O’Hara reveals crush on ‘Home Alone’ co-star John Candy

She must like polka music.

Catherine O’Hara revealed that she had a crush on her “Home Alone” co-star John Candy prior to his death at 43.

“He was just as lovely as you want him to be,” O’Hara, 69, told People magazine while promoting her new film, “Argylle.”

According to the “Schitt’s Creek” alum, the feelings were one-sided as Candy was already in a relationship with Rosemary Hobor, whom he married in 1979. (He died of a heart attack on March 4, 1994.)

“I wouldn’t claim he was interested in me that way,” said O’Hara. “But he was always really lovely to me in Second City Theater.”

The duo met in 1974 when the “Beetlejuice” actress joined the Second City theater troupe and was the understudy for comedy legend Gilda Radner.

According to O’Hara, Candy was always willing to lend a hand and help hone her craft.

“He would always be willing to do an improv with me after the show,” she recalled. “You do a show and then you do improvs after the show. That’s how you build the next show at Second City Theater. And he was always willing to try any idea.”

The Golden Globe winner revealed that Candy was not afraid to interact with his fans by using the “yes, and …” as well as “no, but …” rules of improv.

“People always say, ‘Yes, and …,’ but ‘no, but …’ is just as important,” she explained. “‘Are you the doctor?’ ‘No, but I played one in commercials.’ He was the king of that.”

“You’d be on the street with him, in a mall, and somebody would come up and just want to do a comedy bit with him, and he would always pick up on it right away and give something back and see their eyes light up, like, ‘Oh, I’m doing a bit with John Candy,’” O’Hara gushed.

“It’s so nice to be able to not have to make up any bull, because people loved him,” continued the actress. “And when people ask, ‘What was he like?’ they want to hear what they think he’d be like. And it’s so lovely to be able to validate their guesses about what he would be like in person.”

The pair later reunited on the set of the 1990 film “Home Alone,” where Candy starred as Gus Polinski, the “Polka King of the Midwest,” who helps Kate McCallister (O’Hara) get home to her son Kevin (Macaulay Culkin).

According O’Hara, who married “Beetlejuice” production designer Bo Welch in 1992, Candy “was just so generous and larger than life. Maybe not larger, but [what] life was supposed to be.”