The inimitable Catherine O’Hara just spoke with the consummate Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Julia’s Wiser than Me podcast, which got me wondering: have those two powerhouses ever worked together? My quick Google search yielded no results. How can this be?! It would be an improv for the ages! Catherine and Julia obviously discussed their shared comedic backgrounds, but Catherine also shared a sweet story about Tim Burton. While Tim wasn’t exactly a matchmaker, it was on his 1988 Beetlejuice set that actor Catherine met production designer Bo Welch, who is now her husband of 32 years. And now Catherine has revealed what the artistic auteur gave them as a wedding gift: a tour of the Vatican. That’s certainly different from your average kitchen appliance!
“Tim gave us an amazing wedding gift, which was a private tour at the Vatican,” O’Hara said, prompting Louis-Dreyfus, 63, to reply, “Yeah, only Tim Burton would give us a present like that.”
“Somebody had given [Burton] the gift, and he’d been blown away, so he passed it on, which is really wonderful and generous,” O’Hara continued. “So this lovely priest or cardinal took us all around the Vatican, and he was wild.”
She recalled how their tour guide took them “everywhere” — “including, I swear, the Pope’s closet.”
“He took us on the elevator that the Pope takes down to the St. Peter’s Basilica to his dead mass. He took us in this beautiful, little private museum full of, in glass cases, all the gifts given to the Vatican from all over the world,” O’Hara said. “And he let us open the case and take out crowns and pretend to be putting them in my husband’s backpack.”
The actress also told Louis-Dreyfus that she has Burton to thank for pushing her husband to finally ask her out when the three were on the set of 1988’s Beetlejuice. Burton directed the film, and O’Hara starred as Delia Deetz. Welch, 72, worked behind the scenes as a production designer.
“Tim Burton basically made him ask me out. Because I was grousing to Tim that this guy was talking to me every day, and never asking me out,” O’Hara told Louis-Dreyfus. “So Tim said, ‘Let me see what I can do.’ He did talk to him, and Bo begrudgingly asked me out. And now we’re still married, thank goodness.”
Back in August, the Schitt’s Creek star told PEOPLE that the day Welch invited her on a date was her favorite part of filming Beetlejuice. She recalled that he finally made the move when they were out shooting the exteriors of the iconic Beetlejuice house in Vermont.
“Bo came up to me that day and said, ‘Our department’s going to a swap meet. You want to come?’” she said.
Oh, Bo, honey. That pick up line is so lame it kind of swings back around to being fabulous. And that was after Tim already gave him the nod that Catherine was interested! There’s so much to enjoy about this story. It tickles me that Catherine involved Tim Burton in getting Bo to make a move, like Tim wasn’t otherwise heavily preoccupied directing a movie. I love that the Vatican tour guide was like, “Si si, go ahead and pick up the priceless artifacts to make a funny picture, va bene.” But I think what I appreciate most is the detail that this was an experience that had been given to Tim, and he found it so powerful that he wanted to pass it on. For one thing, it’s another example of Tim being an endearing emotional monster. And on a personal note, it reminded me of my late father, who ardently preached that “you should always give a gift you’d like to receive yourself.”
And on that note, Catherine and Julia: would you please treat us by doing a series or movie together asap? Cause heavens to Betsy are we in desperate need of some laughter.
Note by Celebitchy: this story was written before the election was called
Catherine O’Hara and Tim Burton are shown in 2012 at the Frankenweenie premiere. Credit: PacificCoastNews.com/Avalon. 2024 photos credit Getty, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon