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Omri Katz Learned Self-Discipline From Bette Midler
By Virginia Chamlee
Oct. 19, 2026
Omri Katz reflects on Bette Midler’s discipline on the set of Hocus Pocus.
Moreover, it influenced his work ethic as a teenager.
He recalls hearing Midler rehearse songs while preparing for Broadway’s Gypsy
The two both starred in the 1993 cult classic
Omri Katz is sharing what it was like to work with Bette Midler on the set of Hocus Pocus.
The 1993 film, directed by Kenny Ortega, starred Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as a familial witch trio and also featured Katz as Max Dennison, Vinessa Shaw, Thora Birch, Larry Bagby, and Tobias Jelinek.
Speaking on a new episode of Taboo’s Comics & Kicks, Katz, 50, explained about Midler: “I got to just know her outside of the work element.”
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“And one thing that Vinessa and I, I think grasped and were inspired by, her was her work ethic is like way up there,” Katz added. “If she wasn’t focusing on [her character] Winifred, she was already focusing on her next project.”
He continued: “She’d be in her trailer. You’d hear her training her singing. She’s like, you know, doing lines and she was going on to do Gypsy on Broadway right after that. So, it was kind of like for me that’s what I think I took [from the film] was her work ethic and her discipline.”
However, I was a dumb 16-year-old.
Even now, my work ethic and discipline influence who I’ve become today, he said.
While Hocus Pocus initially was not hugely successful — grossing roughly $40 million against a production budget of $28 million, per The Wrap — it has since become a cult classic, even spawning a 2022 sequel.
