Photo: Kristin Dos Santos / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Kathryn Joosten is the kind of actress I genuinely root for, because she proved it's never too late. She came to acting later in life after working as a nurse, and still carved out unforgettable roles, Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing and the wonderfully prickly Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives, the latter earning her two Emmys. What moves me is that she found her stride in character work that lesser performers throw away. She passed in 2012, but those roles still land. To me she's a reminder that a second act, started in middle age, can outshine careers that began at twenty.
Overview
Kathryn Joosten (née Rausch; December 20, 1939 – June 2, 2012) was an American actress. Her best known roles include Delores Landingham on NBC's The West Wing from 1999 to 2002 and Karen McCluskey on ABC's Desperate Housewives from 2005 to 2012, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2005 and 2008.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Kathryn Joosten
- Name (Japanese)
- キャスリン・ジューステン
- Reading
- きゃすりん・じゅーすてん
- Born
- December 20, 1939 – June 2, 2012
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Rabbit
- Origin
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / nurse / television actor / film actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2005 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
- 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.