Rest in Peace Kathryn Joosten, who won two Emmys as Mrs. McKlusky on “Desperate Housewives”

Her character of Mrs. McClusky died in the series finale of Desperate Housewives and now we have just learned that Kathryn Joosten, the actress who won two Emmys in the role, has also died.

I’m sad about it because I had interviewed her several times over the past 5-6 years and had one particularly memorable encounter: At the Emmys in 2009, it was unbelievably hot on the red carpet, I was wearing a black tuxedo and dripping with sweat as were a lot of the other guys.

When Kathryn came up to me for a chat, without saying a word, she opened her purse, pulled out a tissue and began wiping my face with it. Then she ordered me to take my black jacket off. I did and the rest of the afternoon went much smoother.

She was a no-nonsense lady!

Kathryn was 72 when she died. She didn’t become a professional actress until 25 years ago when she was in her early 40s – a recent divorcee with two kids. She started with theater in Chicago and her first full-time job was as a street performer at Disney World. She came to L.A. in 1995 and within her first few weeks, landed a small guest spot on Family Matters. But she really hit paydirt when she was cast as Mrs. Landingham, secretary to the President (Martin Sheen), on The West Wing in 1999.

Here is a conversation we had in 2007:

Greg: You’re so funny. I love you on that show.
Kathryn”I love me on that show.
Greg: That line you said to Bree (Marcia Cross) about her husband having his hand on the knob…
Kathryn: “Your son has bolted out of the closet and your husband’s reaching for the door knob (laughs).
Greg: I watch every episode and I think this season is terrific.
Kathryn: I think it’s really rolling really good and we’ve got some real surprises coming up, we’ve been working overtime doing this particular big surprise. It’s a two-parter. I’m integral. Very much so.
Greg: When you started on this, that first episode when you were the neighbor who had the fight with Lynette. Did you think it would turn into this? Wasn’t it supposed to be a one-time deal?

Kathryn: I never thought it would grow into the character that it’s grown into. I’ve been very lucky. Frankly, I was replacing another actress who had the part and was having some mobility problems. So I came in and did it. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if…’ and, it did.

Greg: Was it because you and Felicity Huffman were so good together?

Kathryn: I’d like to think it was because I was so good!

Greg: You two did have such chemistry together and then you won the Emmy. That’s always nice.
Kathryn: Yes. It was a nice scene that I had with the boys.
Greg: Where do you keep that Emmy?
Kathryn: I keep my Emmy on a bookshelf. My joke at home is, ‘What’s an Emmy good for? A door stop. I thought, ‘Emmy! I’ll get offered parts, i won’t have to audition. That didn’t happen. I’ve gotta go down to Manhattan Beach tomorrow at 4 p.m. for an audition for ‘Medium.” Friday afternoon at 4 o’clock. i might as well take a picnic lunch and stay over.”
Greg: This is the life of a working actress as you’ve been for awhile.
Kathryn: For awhile, yeah. For 22 years now.
Greg: This is your most high-profile role. What’s it like to have something like that come along after 20 years?
Kathryn: It’s overnight success! (laughs). It’s great. It’s really great. I enjoy it so much. I get a kick out of it. I got nothing to lose now. I got my pension so anything that happens is just golden.
Greg: I still can’t believe that episode last season when we found out you had your dead husband in the freezer! I thought, ‘How is she gonna explain her way outa this?’
Kathryn: (laughs) You notice I only spent one night in jail. It wasn’t having him in the freezer that was illegal, but I stole his pension for I don’t know how long. But we tend to gloss over those little things you know.
Greg: Are you a fan of the show? Do you like to watch it?
Kathryn: Yeah! I do because the episodes I’m not in, I don’t know what happens because I’m not at the table read and they don’t just send me a script to be nice. So I have to watch it to find out what happened.
Greg: When you’re around town, do people say, ‘It’s Mrs. McKlusky!”
Kathryn: Absolutely. I get a lot of that. Fans are great. They’re very nice and it’s very satisfying.
Greg: What about the new neighbors, the gay couple played by Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm.
Kathryn: Aren’t they fun? I said, ‘What’s my attitude gonna be? and they haven’t decided yet.”
Greg: What about Dana Delaney?

Kathryn: She’s fun to be around. What a character. What a fun character. Everytime you turn around, they throw somebody else into the stew and it’s just great fun dealing with. In addition to this great two-parter, how do I phrase this? We’re going to have some interesting cast changes. It’s gonna be November sweeps.