Desperate Housewives' Kathryn Joosten Dies at 72
Kathryn Joosten, best known for her roles on Desperate Housewives and The West Wing, died Friday of lung cancer, TVLine reports. She was 72 years old.
Joosten, who won two Emmys for her portrayal of Mrs. McCluskey on Housewives, passed away in Westlake Village, Calif. She had first battled lung cancer back in 2001, but survived. She was diagnosed with the disease a second time in 2009, but after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free again in 2010. In recent years, she was an advocate for lung cancer awareness and research. Her guest-star turns on My Name is Earl and Grey's Anatomy centered on her character's attempts to quit smoking.
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The Florida native worked as a psychiatric nurse in Chicago for many years before she started acting at the age of 42. She subsequently moved to Hollywood in the mid-'90s and guest-starred on Roseanne, Home Improvement, Seinfeld, ER, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Frasier, among others.
Joosten first rose to fame in 1999 for playing Mrs. Landingham, President Bartlet's secretary on The West Wing. She recurred on the NBC drama for two seasons until her character was killed in a car crash in 2001. She went on to appear in more series, including The X-Files, Will & Grace, Gilmore Girls, Scrubs and even played one incarnation of God on several episodes of Joan of Arcadia.
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In 2004, Joosten won her most notable role, as Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives. She won the Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series twice, in 2005 and 2008, and was promoted to a series regular in Season 6. After her character's tragic end on The West Wing, Joosten famously made Housewives creator Marc Cherry promise not to kill her off the show. In a bittersweet moment, the ABC soap's series finale was largely built around her character's death from terminal lung cancer — to the tune of Johnny Mathis' "Wonderful! Wonderful!"
Felicity Huffman, who shared the most screen time with Joosten throughout Desperate Housewives' eight-year run, tweeted about her late co-star Saturday. "All my prayers and love to Kathryn Joosten's family. Rest in peace. She was an amazing woman and a wonderful actress."
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