Biography
Kathryn Joosten was an American actress. Born Kathryn Rausch in Chicago, Illinois, on 20 December 1939, she worked as a psychiatric nurse at Michael Reese Hospital before her 1980 divorce. She began acting in community theatre in 1982, at the age of 42, and later studied at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.
She moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1990s and gained recognition for recurring roles as Dolores Landingham on The West Wing (1999–2002) and Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives (2005–2012). For the latter she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, in 2005 and 2008. Joosten appeared in numerous other television series and films, including Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), Wedding Crashers (2005) and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009).
She died of lung cancer on 2 June 2012 in Westlake Village, California, aged 72.
