Michael Keaton Shares Memories of “Beetlejuice” Costar Catherine O’Hara a Week After Her Death

Santiago Felipe/WireImage

NEED TO KNOW

• Michael Keaton reflected on his longtime friendship with Catherine O'Hara, who died on Jan. 30, during a Feb. 6 event

• The actor and O'Hara starred together in 1988's Beetlejuice

• He revealed that the pair bonded over both having six siblings

Catherine O'Haraleft a lasting impact onMichael Keaton.

TheBatmanstar, 74, reflected on his longtime friendship with hisBeetlejuicecostar O'Hara — whodied at the age of 71on Jan. 30 — at Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals 2026 Man of the Year event in Cambridge, Mass., on Friday, Feb. 6.

"I was a bigSCTVfan. I am the biggestSCTVfan," Keaton shared when asked about how he first met her. "And I'm trying to think, when was it? I think I was doing a movie in Toronto. ... I remember we must have met or known each other a little bit, because, like myself, she has a big family. She's one of seven, and I'm one of seven. And so somehow we got to be friends."

Warner Br/Everett/Shutterstock

"I remember a night in Toronto where she had a summer [with her] brothers and sisters, and we were all shooting pool in some bar somewhere," he continued. "But I think I had known her before, kind of having a hard time remembering it."

The actor went on to say that he was a "giant fan, like everyone else" and knew her as "kind of a goddess" inside the comedy world — and he wasn't the only one. He said many people in the industry "knew how brilliant she was and how great she was" so it was no surprise when her star began to rise.

"And I was doing this tiny little movie calledGame 6, which is actually a really good little movie. It takes place in Boston, and Griffin [Dunne] and I were talking, and they hadn't cast it [yet]. I said, 'Hey, how [about] Catherine O'Hara as my ex-wife? Yeah, you think she'd do it?' So I called her, and she came down,"Keaton recalled of the 2005 film, in which O'Hara played Lillian Rogan.

"I guess that was after the firstBeetlejuice.But I knew her before that. And to answer your question, I don't remember what the first time was when I met her, but we got to be friends in addition to just working together as well," he added.

Warner Brothers / Courtesy Everett Collection

TheSpider-Man: Homecomingactor was one of the first to share a tribute online to O'Hara after her manager confirmed her death on Jan. 30. In anInstagram postshared the same day, he posted a recent photo of the pair smiling together for a camera.

"We go back before the firstBeetlejuice,"he captioned the photo. "She's been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her. Thinking about Beau as well."

Advertisement

He also penned a tribute to her inTime, in which he described getting to know her as "breathing rarefied air." He noted that she had a "twinkle, a light, a glow" whenever she talked with someone and listened to their stories.

"To have a woman as your friend is a great thing. To have a brilliantly funny woman as your friend is special. To have Catherine O'Hara as your friend is a blessing," he wrote.

O'Hara was born in Toronto in 1954. After graduating from high school, she got a job as a waitress at theSCTVin Toronto before joining the company in 1974. She made her film debut was 1980'sDouble Negative, which also featured Eugene Levy and otherSCTVcostars like Flaherty andJohn Candy.

Kate Green/Getty

In 1990, she was cast inHome Aloneas the harried mom of Macaulay Culkin's Kevin. She reprised her role for 1992'sHome Alone 2: Lost in New York. She also starred in 1993'sThe Nightmare Before Christmas, in which she voiced Sally, and 1994'sWyatt Earp.

In 2015, she teamed up with Levy once again forSchitt's Creek, created by his son,Dan Levy. In 2020,she won the Emmyfor Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Moira Rose.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

O'Hara's final series role came in Apple TV's Hollywood satireThe Studio, playing deposed studio head Patty Leigh. The show earned her a nomination at the 2025 Emmys, as did herguest appearance onThe Last of Us.

O'Hara is survived by her husbandBo Welch, whom she met when he worked as a production designer onBeetlejuiceand married in 1992,and theirsons, Matthew and Luke.

Read the original article onPeople

byAdministrator

in

February 07, 2026

Michael Keaton Shares Memories of “Beetlejuice” Costar Catherine O’Hara a Week After Her Death

Santiago Felipe/WireImage NEED TO KNOW Michael Keaton reflected on his longtime friendship with Catherine O...

Read More

Adam Sandler Recalls Going ’Toe to Toe’ with Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Punch-Drunk Love”

Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage; Michael Loccisano/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• Adam Sandler attended the 41st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Feb 5, 2026, where he was honored with the Maltin Modern Master Award

• During the event, he recalled what it was like going "toe to toe" with the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film Punch‑Drunk Love

• The 59-year-old actor also praised the on-screen work of Hoffman's son, Connor

Adam Sandlerfirst teamed up withPhilip Seymour Hoffmanin the 2002Paul Thomas AndersonfilmPunch‑Drunk Love– a memorable, quirky romantic comedy.

At the 41st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where Sandler was honored with the Maltin Modern Master Award, he reflected fondly on that experience in conversation with Leonard Maltin.

Sandler explained how memorable working with Hoffman was, recalling their time rehearsing together and the way the scenes came alive under Anderson's guidance.

"I'm very proud that I worked with Phil," Sandler, 59, said during the event. "I loved him as a guy and I loved him as one of the best actors of our generation."

CineClips/Youtube

When asked what it was likegoing "toe to toe" with Hoffman, Sandler described an intense but rewarding rehearsal process that he'll never forget.

The duo rehearsed the scene extensively, often in informal settings around the director's property, exploring their scenes from multiple angles and building a rich connection before shooting.

Advertisement

"We'd walk around… do the scenes, and we'd go at it different directions and then on the day when we shot that we kind of kept to ourselves and stayed in our own little worlds," the comedian recalled. "Then when Paul called action, we went at it and went toe to toe and felt what we felt and I loved it."

Their back‑and‑forth rehearsals came in handy for the film's emotional highs and lows, with Sandler playing the anxious Barry Egan and Hoffman portraying his chaotic business rival, Dean Trumbell. Rehearsing extensively beforehand helped them understand their characters' tension and timing, so that when the cameras rolled, their interactions felt real and alive.

Moviestore Collection/Entertainment Pictures

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In 2014,Hoffman died at age 46, leaving behind hislongtime partner Mimi O'Donnelland their three children:son Cooperand daughters Tallulah and Willa.

Cooper, now an actor in his own right, has taken on leading roles in films includingLicorice Pizza, Saturday NightandThe Long Walk– marking a promising continuation of his father's legacy.

During the event on Feb. 5, Sandler spoke warmly about Cooper, saying, "[Hoffman's] boy is fantastic. I love watching that kid. He's a great actor."

Read the original article onPeople

byAdministrator

in

February 07, 2026

Adam Sandler Recalls Going ’Toe to Toe’ with Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Punch-Drunk Love”

Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage; Michael Loccisano/Getty NEED TO KNOW Adam Sandler attended the 41st Annual S...

Read More

Why Kurt Russell wrote Tom Cruise a letter about “Top Gun: Maverick”

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty; Paramount Pictures

Kurt Russellknew thatTop Gun: Maverickwas the film that movie theaters need to get out ofthe danger zone.

TheEscape From New Yorkstar and former pilot tellsEntertainment Weeklythat he personally sent a letter toTom Cruiseabout the high-flying sequel, which became a box office smash hit when it was released in May 2022.

"I actually sent Tom a note because I thought that this was the type of movie that we needed to try and get the movie business back on track, which it's been struggling to do ever since COVID," Russell explains. "People got out of the habit of going to watch something collectively and got used to watching things at home."

As a result, the 74-year-old says that streaming platforms have become "extremely popular," with "a lot of people from our business [pivoting] over to that" instead of the standard theatrical experience.

A sequel to the 1986 classicTop Gun,Maverickfollowed Cruise's Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell as he taught a group of young Navy pilots how to both conduct and survive a dangerous mission. The film also starred Glen Powell, Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, and more.

The Oscar-winning film was the summer smash hit that the box office needed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, raking in $1.48 billion globally and becoming the 15th highest-grossing film of all time. It would go on to become the second highest-grossing film of the year behindAvatar: the Way of Water.

Advertisement

Stefanie Keenan/Getty

In addition to its box office success,Maverickwas also nominated for six Academy Awards andtook home the trophy for Best Soundat the 2023Oscars. Anuntitled threequel is currently in development, with Kosinski in talks to return as its director.

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.

But, first, the filmmaker is directing Russell in Michelob ULTRA's new Super Bowl advertisement, which also happens to starMaverick's very own Pullman. Titled "The ULTRA Instructor," the clip blends football festivities with the upcoming Winter Olympics by having Russell transform subpar skier Greg (Pullman) into a serious slope shredder.

"We love watching the Super Bowl, and it's fun to watch the commercials too," Russellpreviously told EW about the advertisement. "I gotta say, on that day, they're very different…. They're a little bit like a mini movie. They're water cooler fare, and the next day it's fun to talk about them. So I looked at it as something like, 'Hey, let's go after this. Let's have some fun with this thing.'"

Watch "The ULTRA Instructor" above.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byAdministrator

in

February 07, 2026

Why Kurt Russell wrote Tom Cruise a letter about “Top Gun: Maverick”

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty; Paramount Pictures Kurt Russellknew thatTop Gun: Maverickwas the film that movie the...

Read More

Will Forte details grueling return to “SNL” for Glen Powell's MacGruber sketch: 'It really was like the old days'

Esther Kuhn/NBC

Key points

• Will Forte tells EW he got "very little sleep" as he prepared to revive MacGruber for Glen Powell's Saturday Night Live hosting gig.

• The comedian first played the character as an SNL cast member, then for a film and TV series.

• "It really was like the old days," says the actor, who's currently partnering with Teva to promote awareness for Huntington's disease.

Will Fortemakes writing MacGruber sound as stressful as, well,beingMacGruber.

TheLast Man on Earthstar tellsEntertainment Weeklyabout the whirlwind saga that led to his signatureSaturday Night Livecharacter's return while promoting his Huntington's disease awareness campaign with Teva.

Forte says thatGlen Powellwas instrumental in getting MacGruber back on the air when theRunning Manactor hostedSNLin November.

Esther Kuhn/NBC

"It came pretty late in the game," Forte says of the sketch. "I know Glen a little bit through friends and so he had reached out. My friend put us in touch 'cause he was coming to host for the first time and just had a couple questions about what the week was gonna be like. So we had a nice chat about that. And he said he had a MacGruber idea."

Forte explains that he was working on the second season of Netflix'sThe Four Seasonswith fellowSNLalum Tina Fey in Beacon, N.Y., when conversations transpired about reviving MacGruber for Powell's episode.

"I was like, 'Okay, I don't think I could even do it if they wanted me to,'" he remembers. "But I didn't know what they had in mind. I thought, 'Oh, maybe they just want MacGruber to come walk out in the monologue' or something like that."

The comedian knew he was in for something more involved when he heard that theSNLteam wanted "a traditional MacGruber," which ultimately ended up being a six-minute sketch in which the title hero (Forte) tries to evade questions from his allies (played by Powell and cast memberChloe Fineman) about his presence in the Epstein files.

"So me and my buddy John Solomon and Jorma Taccone — the original MacGruber team — we just started working and stayed up super late," Forte remembers. "It was really like old times, 'cause in those oldSNLwriting days, you are so sleep deprived. So it felt like home."

Forte says that jugglingSNL,Four Seasons, and his Huntington's awareness campaign was no easy feat.

Advertisement

"It was a couple nights of getting very little sleep and having to try to write in the cracks ofFour Seasonsstuff, and then go act in someFour Seasonsscenes and then run into the computer and writing, and then going into the city, staying up til 3 to write, and then waking up at 6 to shoot MacGruber and then shooting it, and then going right up to Beacon again to do this night shoot," he remembers.

Esther Kuhn/NBC

"And then I had to come back down on Saturday for this Huntington's awareness campaign with Teva. We were shooting something that Saturday, and that's the day you're editing it," he continues. "And then as soon as the Teva shoot was over, I raced over to 30 Rock and tried to edit it. So, man, it really was like the old days."

The comedian reflects on how the new MacGruber experience compared to his originalSNLrun. "Back then, when all you're doing is focusing onSNL, you're always thinking like, 'Oh man, if we could have only had even 30 more minutes!'" he says. "But this was tough 'cause it was also all three of us — me, Jorma, and John — spread out all over the place. John was in California in Lone Pine with very bad reception.Jorma had been in an accidentwhere he fell off a ladder. So he was still on pain pills every once in a while. But we did it! It was really fun."

Forte, anSNLcast member from 2002-2010, first played the character on a Jan. 20, 2007 episode of the legendary sketch show. A spoof of 1980s adventure seriesMacGyver,MacGruber recurred nearly a dozen times during the actor's run on the show, and again when he hosted in 2022. The fan-favorite character launched aless successful feature filmand, later, aneight-episode series on Peacock.

Amy Sussman/Getty

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.

Forte partnered with Teva to raise awareness for Huntington's disease after his brother-in-law, Douglas, was diagnosed with the condition, an inherited disorder in which nerve cells in the brain decay over time, affecting movement, cognitive ability, and mental health.

"More people have Huntington's than have ALS, but everybody knows ALS, so that's why we're trying to get the word out about it," Forte explains. "We're trying to get some support and a bigger community going to support the people who have Huntington's, and to teach the people who don't have it about it."

Forte offers his perspective on supporting the Huntington's community. "The more you can be there to support your loved ones who are going through it and create a big community around them, the better," he says. "And to talk about it. Just talk about it. The more you talk about it, the better. 'cause It's easy to just get scared about, 'Oh, am I gonna say the right thing? What do I say?' But saying anything is better than saying nothing."

You can learn more about Forte's family's experience with Huntington's disease on theHonestlyHD website.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byAdministrator

in

February 07, 2026

Will Forte details grueling return to “SNL” for Glen Powell's MacGruber sketch: 'It really was like the old days'

Esther Kuhn/NBC Key points Will Forte tells EW he got "very little sleep" as he prepared to reviv...

Read More

How Billie Holiday, Billy Crystal's Uncle Made Black Music History with a Protest Song About Lynching (Exclusive)

Amanda Edwards/Getty;Gilles Petard/Redferns

NEED TO KNOW

• Billie Holiday was one of the most influential singers of the 20th century, with hits including "God Bless the Child" and "Lover Man"

• Billy Crystal's uncle Milt Gabler was a record producer who launched the label Commodore Records in the 1930s

• The four episodes of the docuseries Black & Jewish America: An Interwoven History premieres on PBS between Feb. 3 and Feb. 24

Billie Crystalis known for comedic movies like 1989'sWhen Harry Met Sally...and 1991'sCity Slickers, and for hosting the Academy Awards nine times, making him second only to 19-time Oscar host Bob Hope. But the Emmy-winning Hollywood legend also has an unexpected major tie to Black history.

His uncle Milt Gabler produced one of jazz legend Billie Holiday's seminal singles: "Strange Fruit" — a protest song that became a musical cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the 20th century. It's one of many examples of the divine connection between Black and Jewish Americans.

The four-episode PBS docuseriesBlack & Jewish America: An Interwoven History, which premiered on Feb. 3 with the first episode, explores the histories of Black people and Jewish people in the United States and how those histories have diverged and intersected over the course of centuries.

"By the 1930s, the rise of facism in Europe drew Black and Jewish Americans even closer, as Nazi propaganda borrowed pages from the Jim Crow playbook," the docuseries' host and executive producer Henry Louis Gates Jr. says at the beginning of episode 2, "Strange Fruit." He adds, "After the Holocaust, there was a heightened awareness of their shared suffering as well as a growing recognition of their differences."

Jewish people were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement alongside Black Americans, and many of popular music's mid-century classics were collaborations between Black and Jewish talent. For example, the greatest hits by the Black vocal group The Coasters, including "Yakety Yak" and "Poison Ivy," were written by the Jewish songwriting team Jerome Leiber and Michael Stoller.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Then there was Atlantic Records legend Jerry Wexler, who produced landmark classics for Ray Charles ("What'd I Say"),Aretha Franklin("Respect") and Wilson Pickett ("Mustang Sally"). AndDionne Warwickmade her mark in the '60s with a string of hits written by the Jewish songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin helped craft classics by the Shirelles ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow"), Little Eva ("The Loco-Motion") and Franklin ("[You Make Me Feel Like] A Natural Woman").

Decades earlier, Holiday and Gabler made history with "Strange Fruit." As the documentary explains in a clip shared exclusively with PEOPLE, Gabler first heard "Strange Fruit" when Holiday herself sang it in Gabler's family store, in hopes that Milk would produce a recording of it.

"According to him, she sang it in the store a cappella," Crystal, 77, says of his uncle and Holiday in the clip. "And he said to me, 'I just cried like a baby. I said, We gotta record this thing. I don't care if we make a buck.' "

Murray Korman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Gabler recorded "Strange Fruit" on his Commodore record label after pretty much every other label turned it down.

"A White Jewish producer, and the greatest Black jazz singer of all-time, and an all-Black band, working together to produce art," Crystal adds. "Isn't that the metaphor for what we should be and where we should be at? Why can't the world be like this?"

Abel Meeropol, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, was working as a school teacher in New York City when he wrote "Strange Fruit" as a poem, and he published it in 1937. He was inspired by aphotothat showed the lynching of two Black teenagers in Indiana in 1930, and he later set his poem to music.

Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty

Holiday performed it as both a mournful hymn and a political lamentation about the harsh realities of life in the Jim Crow South during the first part of the 20th century. "Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root, black body swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees," she sings in the first verse.

The song, released as a single in 1939, sparked outrage among racists in and out of power and made Holiday a target of the U.S. government. Banned by radio stations around the country, it nonetheless sold a million copies and became the biggest hit of her career.

Bill Spilka/Getty

Gabler went on to produce a number of landmark recordings, including Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock," the song widely credited as launching rock & roll into the mainstream in 1955. Both Holiday, who died in 1959 at age 44, and Gabler were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 2000 and 1993, respectively.

The obituary that ran inThe New York Timeswhen Gabler died in 2001 at age 90 underscored his enduring bond with Holiday. "At the time of his death," it read, "there was just one photo by his bedside. It was of Billie Holiday."

"Strange Fruit," the second episode ofBlack & Jewish America: An Interwoven Historypremieres on PBS Feb. 10 at 9 p.m. ET. Episodes 3 and 4 will follow on Feb. 17 and 24, respectively, at the same time. All episodes will be available to stream on PBS.org, thePBS appand PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

Read the original article onPeople

byAdministrator

in

February 07, 2026

How Billie Holiday, Billy Crystal's Uncle Made Black Music History with a Protest Song About Lynching (Exclusive)

Amanda Edwards/Getty;Gilles Petard/Redferns NEED TO KNOW Billie Holiday was one of the most influential singers of the 20th century, wit...

Read More