Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Kathryn Joosten, of “Desperate Housewives,” Passes Away at 72

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Kathryn Joosten the veteran actress who played the nosy Mrs. McCluskey on “Desperate Housewives,” is dead at 72. Joosten won two Emmys for her work on “Housewives” for her delicious portrayal. She had also worked consistently for the last 30 years on every major TV show from “The West Wing” to “Murphy Brown.” There are some unusual trivia items about her on the imdb–including the fact that when she was starting out as an actress she moonlighted hanging wallpaper. She hung the wallpaper in the room of now- well known writer Dave Eggers. I think her great achievement is that she didn’t really take off until she was around 50, which should give hope to all of us.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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