Kathryn Joosten Biography

Kathryn Joosten (December 20, 1939 " June 2, 2012) was an American television actress best known for her regular role as Karen McCluskey in Desperate Housewives, for which she won two Emmy Awards, and for her recurring role in The West Wing as Dolores Landingham.

Early life

Joosten was born Kathryn Rausch in Chicago, Illinois. Her first career was as a psychiatric nurse at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, living in nearby Lake Forest, Illinois, where she married a psychiatrist and raised two sons. Following her 1980 divorce, she began acting in community theater in 1982, at age 42.

Career

In 1992, she was hired as a street performer working for Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In 1995, she moved to Hollywood, where she took guest roles in such television series as Roseanne, Home Improvement, Picket Fences, Murphy Brown, ER, Seinfeld, Frasier, Just Shoot Me!, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dharma & Greg, Las Vegas and The Drew Carey Show. In the 1997 episode of Frasier, 'Roz's Turn', Joosten appeared as Vera, the mother and personal secretary of Frasier's conniving agent, Bebe Glazer, played by Harriet Sansom Harris. The pair would later be reunited to play opposite neighbors in Desperate Housewives.

In 1999, Joosten took the role of Mrs. Landingham, personal secretary to President Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) in The West Wing. Joosten played the role for two seasons, until her character's death in a car crash in 2001, and returned to the show twice more in flashback appearances. Her role on The West Wing gave her an entrance into more significant guest roles on notable television series.

Since 2001, she appeared in such shows as Scrubs (appearing in "My Old Lady", which won a Humanitas Prize as well as reappearing in two later episodes), My Name is Earl, Spin City, The X-Files, Judging Amy, Monk, Charmed, Will & Grace, Malcolm in the Middle, Grey's Anatomy, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Reba, So Little Time, Gilmore Girls, The Closer and a recurring role as one of the less intimidating incarnations of God seen by the title character (played by Amber Tamblyn) on the TV series Joan of Arcadia. In 2005, Joosten appeared in the film Wedding Crashers, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

Joosten had a recurring role on Desperate Housewives as Karen McCluskey. For this role, Joosten won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2005 and 2008 and once again was nominated for 2010, and appeared as a presenter at the 2005 and 2008 Emmy Awards telecasts. She received Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with the rest of the cast for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from 2006"2008. She was promoted to a member of the regular cast in Season 6. However, the Emmys still billed her as a "Guest Actress" when she was nominated for a third time for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the 2010 Emmys. She was then nominated for a fourth Emmy, this time for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012. She played Aunt Jackie in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in 2009.

In 2009, Joosten and Lily Tomlin were in talks to star in a Desperate Housewives spin-off. The spin-off was given a preliminary green light to proceed. However, the series did not proceed.

Health

Joosten appeared in numerous television commercials such as those for V8 and Fiber One. In 2007, in an appearance on The View, she revealed that she was in remission from lung cancer, after many years of chain smoking (which she had by then quit). She offered some tips on how to beat the habit of smoking. Coincidentally, her guest roles on My Name is Earl and Grey's Anatomy revolved largely around her character attempting to quit smoking. In 2001, she quit her 45-year smoking habit when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. In September 2009, Joosten was diagnosed with lung cancer for a second time. She subsequently underwent surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy, and was found to be cancer-free in January 2010.

Joosten made a guest appearance on The Bold and the Beautiful on February 7, 2011, as part of the show's 6000th episode, which featured several other real-life lung cancer survivors discussing their experiences with two of the show's characters, played by Susan Flannery and Jack Wagner, who were dealing with lung cancer.

Joosten was named the national spokesperson for the Lung Cancer Profiles campaign on behalf of Pfizer.

Death

Joosten died of lung cancer on the morning of June 2, 2012, after an 11-year battle with the disease. Coincidentally, her death occurred twenty days after the onscreen death from cancer of her Desperate Housewives character, Karen McCluskey.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Sable	Waitress	1 episode
1995	Pointman	Lois	1 episode
	Family Matters	Grocery checker	1 episode
	Picket Fences	Waitress	1 episode
	Grace Under Fire	Ida Reilly	1 episode
1996	3rd Rock from the Sun	Cafeteria lady	1 episode
	ER	Lois	1 episode
	Roseanne	Carol / Supermarket customer	2 episodes (separate roles)
	Goode Behavior	Unknown	1 episode
	Murphy Brown	Secretary #83	1 episode
	Boston Common	Mrs. Schuster	1 episode
1997	Seinfeld	Warden Betsy	1 episode
	Frasier	Vera	1 episode
	Profiler	Morganna Styles	1 episode
	Men Behaving Badly	Saleswoman	1 episode
	NYPD Blue	Mrs. Prows	1 episode
	Life with Roger	Mrs. Mitchell	1 episode
	Brooklyn South	Mrs. Mariah Westbrook	2 episodes
1998	Prey	Landlady	1 episode
	Just Shoot Me!	Mrs. Pierce	1 episode
	'	Ward nurse	1 episode
1998"2003	'	Natalie / Ruth	2 episodes (separate roles)
1998"2001	Dharma and Greg	Claire	7 episodes (recurring role)
1999	Home Improvement	Thelma McCreedy	1 episode
	Thanks	Mrs. Sturges	3 episodes
	Tracey Takes On...	Waitress	1 episode
1999"2001	Providence	Mrs. Nielsen / Miss O'Meara	2 episodes (separate roles)
1999"2002	'	Dolores Landingham	30 episodes (recurring role)
2000	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Genevive Holt	1 episode
	Becker	Mrs. Goldsmith	1 episode
2001	Ally Mcbeal	Sister Alice	1 episode
	Arli$$	Kirby's mother	1 episode
	Dead Last	Nurse	1 episode
	Raising Dad	Unknown	1 episode
	Spin City	Sister Agnes	1 episode
2001"09	Scrubs	Mrs. Tanner	3 episodes: 1 uncredited
2002	'	Agent Edie Boal	1 episode
	Titus	Betty	1 episode
	'	Constance "Connie" Langtry	1 episode
	So Little Time	Louise Van Horn	1 episode
	Even Stevens	Edna Manning	1 episode
2002"03	General Hospital	Ida Warren	5 episodes
2003	Judging Amy	Judge Drabowsky	1 episode
	A.U.S.A.	Ginny Romano	2 episodes
	Hope & Faith	Funeral guest	Uncredited
	Charmed	Wife	1 episode
	Less Than Perfect	Old lady	1 episode
	Strong Medicine	Mrs. Nolan	1 episode
	'	Maureen	1 episode
2003"05	Joan of Arcadia	Elderly woman (incarnation of God)	8 episodes
2003"08	Monk	Neysa Gordon / Nurse Stempel	separate roles: 2 episodes
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Woman at reception	1 episode
	10-8: Officers on Duty	Mrs. Utenberger	1 episode
	Will & Grace	Felicia	1 episode
	Yes, Dear	Claire Atkinson	1 episode
	Life with Bonnie	Phyllis	1 episode
	Everwood	Mrs. Hammerhill	1 episode
	Gilmore Girls	Mazie Fortner	1 episode
	Breaking Dawn	Neighbor
	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	Patron
2005	Grey's Anatomy	Stephanie Drake	1 episode
	Love, Inc.	Doris	1 episode
	Wedding Crashers	Chazz's Mom
	Malcolm in The Middle	Claire	1 episode
2005"08	My Name Is Earl	Donny's mother	2 episodes
2005"12	Desperate Housewives	Karen McCluskey	87 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Won; 2005, 2008, Nominated; 2010) Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2012) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2007, 2008)
2006	Reba	Director	1 episode
	'	Grandma Marilyn	1 episode
	'	Midge	1 episode
	Saved	Evelyn Wilson	1 episode
2007	In Case of Emergency	Mrs. Walsh	1 episode
	'	Nurse Townsend	1 episode
2008	Las Vegas	Robby	1 episode
2009	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel	Aunt Jackie
2011	'	Herself
	The Cleveland Show	Hazel
	Mega Python vs. Gatoroid	Angie
2012	The Mentalist	Elderly neighbor	1 episode