Beetlejuice Cast & Character Guide

From the title character to the mix of living and dead Beetlejuice letters, The movie has an amazing cast which contributes to its success as a classic. Tim Burton’s second feature established the director’s signature gothic style, aided by Bo Welch’s macabre production design, the Oscar-winning makeup of Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte and Robert Short, and Danny Elfman’s eerie, but iconic film score. However, Tim Burton also deserves credit for choosing just the right actors for his films, often against type.

Beetlejuice is one of Tim Burton’s best horror movies, but it wouldn’t work as well with just any cast. Released in 1988, Beetlejuice Was a surprise hit, owing a lot to it Outstanding visuals and unique supernatural premise. Beetlejuice Also features some of the best performances from Burton’s movies, including Michael Keaton in one of the defining roles of his career. Here it is A guide to the most noteworthy members of the Beetlejuice FigureWhat characters they play, how the roles fit into their filmography, and what else the actors are best known for.

Character	Actor	Image
Adam Maitland	Alec Baldwin
Barbara Maitland	Genna Davis
Betelgeuse	Michael Keaton
Lydia Dets	Winona Ryder
Charles Debt	Jeffrey Jones
Delia Debts	Catherine O’Hara

Alec Baldwin as Adam Maitland

Best known for his Emmy-winning performance on 30 stone

Some of the couple who die in the beginning of Beetlejuice and returns home to learn they are ghosts, Adam Maitland is an artistic and genial small-town kind of guy, and Alec Baldwin is barely recognizable in this early casting. The actor had a breakout year in 1988, and his other characters then and since have mostly been more confident and conventionally attractive compared to the relatively quaint and nerdy Adam. He is now best known for his Emmy-winning performance as NBC executive Jack Donaghy in the sitcom 30 stone And for lampooning Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

Alec Baldwin’s other famous credits include Jack Ryan in The dog for Red OctoberBlake in Glengarry Glen RossJake in the Rom-Com It’s complicatedEllerby in Martin Scorsese The departedCIA Director Alan Hunley in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and his scene-setting role as Shelley in The coolerFor which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His voice can also be heard as Wes Anderson’s narrator The Royal Spruce And these Thomas and friends Children’s television series, and as the title character of the Chef baby Movies.

Geena Davis as Barbara Maitland

Best known for the 1991 movie Thelma & Louise

When inserted BeetlejuiceGeena Davis came from a different kind of horror movie, as Jeff Goldblum’s love interest The flight. She also had a breakout year in 1988 with Beetlejuice And The accidental touristFor which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her role as Barbara Maitland, one of the dead couple trying to get a new family out of their home, is on the plain and pastoral side compared to the tougher and more assured character she played later.

In the 90s, she even briefly became an action star through her collaborations with her then-husband, Renny Harlin. The most famous movie roles of Geena Davis include Thelma in Thelma and LouiseWhich earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination, Dottie In A league of their ownand Samantha/Charlie in Harlin’s under-seen action masterpiece The Long Kiss Goodnight.

She also played Mrs. Klein in the Stuart Little Film franchise. On the small screen, she played the titular President Mackenzie Allen in the political drama Chief Commander and hosted her own sitcom titled The Geena Davis Show In the role of Teddy Cochran. And on Gray’s AnatomyShe played the season 11 character Dr. Nicole Herman.

Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse

Best known for his role as Batman

The title character of Beetlejuice has a different spelling than the movie’s name, and that’s just one of its many eccentricities. The self-proclaimed “Mind with the most“is a”Bio-exorcist“Who takes on the task of haunting the Deets, who have moved into the Maitlands’ home. He is creepy and gross and ultimately the villain of the movieAnd Michael Keaton stretched out his usual blue-collar everyman type, seen in Night shift, Mr. MomAnd Gung HoTo make the character work.

Keaton has played over-the-top comedy, especially in scenes that call for anger, and he can be slick and conniving, but Betelgeuse is on a whole other level. After his appearance in BeetlejuiceKeaton is back to more of the same and has played a lot of roles where the character is connected to their profession, such as the news of The paper And Spotlight Or the business icon Ray Kroc in The founder Or even the actor of Birdman or (The Unexpected Advantage of Ignorance)Which earned the actor an Oscar nomination.

yet His most famous role is the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his superhero alter ego Batman In two movies helmed by his Beetlejuice Director. Again, Burton cast against type, and somehow Keaton’s middle-class demeanor fits the particular image of DC Comics’ rich crime-fighter character.

Winona Ryder as Lydia Detz

Best known for several horror movies and TV shows, including Stranger things

Lydia is a brooding but sweet teenage girl who can see the Maitlands because of her self-identifying trait of being “Strange and unusual.” This was Winona Ryder’s breakthrough roleand is thrown in Beetlejuice immediately associated her with darker, edgier characters, despite her general lack of similar castings—even in her reunion with Burton, Edward ScissorhandsShe goes for the opposite look and feel like a brightly dressed cheerleader.

Still, Ryder is best known for horror-related movies and shows included Heathers, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Alien: ResurrectionAnd Stranger things. She also earned Oscar nominations For her period-piece dramatic roles in The age of innocence And Little women.

Jeffrey Jones as Charles Deetz

Best known as Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Charles Deetz, the real estate developer who dragged his daughter and new wife from New York City to the Connecticut countryside, seems more cast against type in the ensemble of Beetlejuice Like his actor’s career. He is wonderfully uninteresting compared to everyone else in the film, which makes him somewhat immature, and therefore interesting.

He is played by Jeffrey Jones, who is Best known as Principal Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. His other roles include Dr. Jennings in Howard the Duck, Criswell in Tim Burton’s Ed WoodEmperor Joseph II in Amadeusand one of the titular duo of Mom and Dad save the world.

Kathryn O’Hara as Delia Deetz

Best known for iconic maternal roles, such as in Home alone

Catherine O’Hara is known for her iconic maternal roles, but not as a uniform type. Her varied mother characters include the loving yet neglected Mom in the first two Home alone MoviesThe overly dramatic had-been soap star matriarch Moira rose on Sheets creekand Delia Dets, the cold and curmudgeonly artist, who could not be a stepmother to Lydia, in Beetlejuice.

O’Hara is also famous for being a regular in Christopher Guest’s mockumentary movies, including Waiting for Goffman, Best in Show And A mighty windAnd before they are thrown in BeetlejuiceShe was one of the Emmy-winning writers and stars of the sketch comedy series SCTV.

Beetlejuice supporting cast and characters

Glenn Shadix, Sylvia Sidney and more

Glenn Shadix as Otto – Friend and interior decorator for the Deets who is also interested in the paranormal. After being cast as Otto in BeetlejuiceGlenn Shadix reunited with Winona Ryder in Heathers and director Tim Burton on The Nightmare Before ChristmasWhere he voices the mayor of Halloween Town, and the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes.

Sylvia Sidney as Juno – The Maitlands’ caseworker in the afterlife. Sylvia Sidney was a Hollywood star in the 1930s, appearing in such classics as Alfred Hitchcock’s sabotage and Fritz Long Fury. She also earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting performance in 1973 Summer wishes, winter dreams and later reunited with Burton for Mars Attacks!Her last film role.

Robert Goulet as Maxi Dean – Charles’ boss, who reluctantly comes to Connecticut for a pitch at a paranormal theme park. Robert Goulet was a singer and actor best known for the stage, including the Broadway productions of Camelot And The happy time. He also played the villain Quentin Hapsburg in The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear.

Dick Cavett as Bernard – Legendary talk shows like Dick Cavett appeared in the Beetlejuice Cast as Delia’s agent, Bernard. Almost all of his other film roles consist of him playing himself.

Maree Cheatham as Sarah Dean – Maxie Dean’s wife. Maree Cheatham was a regular on the soaps Days of our lives And Nats Landing But would be known to young audiences today as Nona from Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat.

Susan Kellermann as Grace – Bernard’s wife, Grace, appears alongside the main cast of Beetlejuice During the “day-o” dinner party number. Susan Kellermann also appeared in Elvira, mistress of the dark And Death is yours.

Tony Cox as the preacher – While the voice of the preacher in Beetlejuice was performed by cartoon staple Jack Angel, the actor underneath all the makeup is Tony Cox, who is best known for his sidekick role as Marcus in the Bad Santa Movies.

Adele Lutz as Beryl – One of the dinner party guests during the “day-o” number. Adelle Lutz is also a costume designer but in addition to appearing as part of the cast of BeetlejuiceShe features in the movies The silence of the lambs And Wall Street.

Annie McEnroe as Jane Butterfield – Real estate agent and friend of the Maitlands. Annie McEnroe also later appeared in Wall StreetIn the role of Mafi Livingston.

Patrice Martinez as Miss Argentina – Juno’s receptionist in the afterlife. Before she was thrown in BeetlejuicePatrice Martinez was best known for playing Carmen in Three Amigos. Later she played in the early 90s Zorro TV series.

Which cast members return for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?

Although it’s been decades since the first movie was released and years of rumors and false starts, the long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Finally arrived and the success of the box office was an indication of how beloved the series still is after so long. Another big factor in the success of the movie was that, Along with some fun new cast additions like Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci, some of the key cast members from the original movie have returned.

When the possibility of a sequel was brought up, everyone involved acknowledged that it could not happen without Michael Keaton in the title role. Although many actors have played Batman after Keaton, Beetlejuice seemed like a role that was impossible to recast. After seeing Keaton give great performances in intense dramas like Spotlight And DopesicSeeing him be weird and funny again was a lot of fun.

Another key cast member who has been permanently tied to the sequel is Winona Ryder who returned in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Like Lydia. Although she is no longer the moody teen, but rather a widowed mother still dealing with grief, the sequel allows Ryder to pull off her iconic gothic look from the first movie. Ryder was reportedly so enthusiastic about making the sequel that when signing onto Stranger things In its first season, she put a stipulation in her contract that she would be allowed to make out Beetlejuice 2 If there was a green light.

Finally, Catherine O’Hara rounded out the trio of returning actors, reprising her role as Delia Dets. Although the original movie made it clear that Delia and her stepdaughter Lydia did not get along, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice reveals that they have grown closer over the years. The movie also mentions some of the other originals Beetlejuice cast members, revealing that Adam and Barbara are able to crossover. Meanwhile, Charles Deetz is revealed to have been killed off at the beginning of the movie and ascends into the afterlife as a bloody corpse without an upper half.