Catherine O’Hara and Beau Welch first met during the filming of Beetlejuice, the surrealist cult classic that changed both their professional and personal lives in the ’80s. O’Hara starred as Delia Dietz, and Welch served as the film’s production designer. In the decades since, the couple has forged a strong partnership formed by their shared careers in Hollywood and the two sons they raised together. Ms. O’Hara sadly passed away on January 30, 2026, and her manager confirmed to People magazine that Ms. Welch and her children survive her.
While O’Hara is known for playing many iconic film and television characters, including Kate McCallister in Home Alone and Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, Welch has made a name for herself behind the scenes as an Oscar- and Emmy-nominated production designer. He is also active as a director.
Here’s everything you need to know about Welch.
He started in the field of architecture and then shifted his focus to film.
Before designing the world of Beetlejuice, Welch studied architecture at the University of Arizona. After earning her degree, passing her exams, and moving to Los Angeles, Welch realized that a traditional career path wasn’t for her.
“I loved teaching, I loved architecture, and I still do, but I hated the job,” Welch said in a January 2024 Kingdom of Dreams video interview. After realizing that his skills could be applied to set design, he joined Universal Studios’ art department in 1977 and was “hired on the spot.”
By the mid-1980s, Welch had risen through the ranks as a set designer and then earned his first major production design credit on The Lost Boys. He said that work indirectly led to his next project and meeting O’Hara.
He met O’Hara while designing Beetlejuice.
Welch was hired as the production designer for Beetlejuice in 1987. He and O’Hara met on this project, and he asked her out on a date toward the end of filming.
In a 2019 New Yorker interview, O’Hara explained, “At the end of the movie, we went on location and started dating. I moved to Los Angeles to be with him.”
“Yes, I moved for love,” the Canadian actress added.
According to People magazine, Welch asked O’Hara out on a date while filming in Vermont. O’Hara told the outlet that the two talked “all the time” during the first shoot in Los Angeles. “I thought, ‘He’s going to ask me out, oh, he’s going to ask me out.'” And stupid me, I should have asked him out, but I didn’t. ”
Thankfully, director Tim Burton was on board. “Tim[Burton]said to me, ‘You should ask Katherine out on a date,'” Welch said in a 2015 interview with Uproxx. I never thought I’d be talking to actors. But Tim said so, so we started dating, got married, and are here today. ”
Mr. O’Hara had his eye on him from the beginning of the project. “The first day, I met Tim, and then I met Glenn (Shaddix)…He took me to all the departments and met everyone. And he introduced me first to Bo, and then to everyone in the art department,” O’Hara said in an April 2020 video interview with TIFF Originals. “And on set, we talked and laughed. And I was really into him, but he never asked me out.”
Ms Welch added: “I remember being in my office when I heard Glenn’s voice, and I saw this beautiful woman pop up by the door, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, what the hell is that? That has to be Catherine O’Hara.'”
Beau Welch and Catherine O’Hara, June 19, 1989
They married in 1992 and have two children.
O’Hara and Welch married on April 25, 1992. Their first son, Matthew, was born in 1994, and their second son, Luke, was born in 1997. Although the family maintains a relatively private life, O’Hara has shared glimpses of her parenting journey over the years.
“They’re very funny, so we encourage that,” O’Hara said of her sons in a 2007 interview with the Toronto Star. “The older kids do stuff like Warner cartoons, really old-fashioned, cheesy, funny vaudeville stuff. And the little ones do word games.”
The brothers currently work behind the scenes in the entertainment industry. O’Hara told Vanity Fair in 2020 that her sons worked on Schitt’s Creek, with one working on set construction and the other working as a set dresser. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live in 2024, O’Hara also revealed that one of her sons is currently working as a set dresser on The Last of Us.
He is a production designer on several major films.
Welch has worked as a production designer on some of Hollywood’s most visually original films, including “Scissorhands,” “Batman Returns,” “Men in Black,” “The Birdcage,” “The Little Princess,” “Thor,” and “The Color Purple.” He has received four Oscar nominations for his work.
“If I had to get up in the morning to do something, I can’t think of anything better than[production design],” he told Below the Line.
In 2003, he directed his first film, The Cat in the Hat, and went on to direct five episodes of Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Welch’s cameo appearance at the 2021 Golden Globe Awards became a hot topic.
In 2021, O’Hara won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) for her role in Schitt’s Creek. Because the ceremony was held virtually due to COVID-19, O’Hara accepted the award at home with Welch sitting next to her.
During his speech, Welch began playing the sound of applause on his cell phone, followed by ceremony-style outro music as a cheeky homage to awards show protocol. “Seriously?” O’Hara said with a laugh.
They have endured hardship in their marriage.
O’Hara and Welch rarely speak publicly about their marriage, but when they do, it’s with mutual affection and frank honesty. “We went through some rocky times in our marriage, and thank God, but we both really just wanted to work on our marriage and stay married,” O’Hara told People in 2024. “You can’t do anything if only one person wants to work on it. But thank God, we both wanted to.”
She added that humor remains the cornerstone of their relationship. “And we laugh. We respect each other and we talk, but that’s where the laughter comes from, too,” she said.
He supported O’Hara at the premiere of the Beetlejuice sequel, 37 years after the two met.
In August 2024, O’Hara and Welch returned to the world of Beetlejuice for the film’s long-awaited sequel, Beetlejuice. Welch was not involved in the production, but attended the Venice Film Festival premiere with O’Hara. O’Hara reprized her role as Delia Dietz in this project.
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