Kathryn Joosten
Kathryn Joosten (born on
December 20,
1939) is an
American actress best known for her role as secretary/aide
Delores Landingham to President
Josiah Bartlet on
The West Wing.
Although she had always had a dream of acting, Joosten did not begin to hone her craft until middle age in the 1980s, after taking acting classes in
Chicago, Illinois.
It wasn't until the mid-1990s that Joosten made the move to
Hollywood, where she took guest roles in television series such as
Home Improvement,
Picket Fences,
Murphy Brown,
ER,
Seinfeld,
Frasier,
Just Shoot Me!,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Dharma & Greg and
The Drew Carey Show.
In 1999, Joosten took the role that would make her well-known, as
Delores Landingham, secretary to
President of the United States Josiah Bartlet (played by
Martin Sheen) on
The West Wing. Joosten played the role for two seasons, until her character's death in a
car crash in 2001. She would return to the show twice more in
flashback episodes.
Joosten's role on
The West Wing gave her an entrance into more significant guest roles on significant television series. Since 2001, she has appeared in television series such as
Scrubs,
Spin City,
The X-Files,
Judging Amy,
Monk,
Charmed,
Will & Grace,
Grey's Anatomy,
Gilmore Girls and a recurring role as one of many incarnations of
God seen by the title character (played by
Amber Tamblyn) on
Joan of Arcadia.
In 2005, Joosten guest starred in two episodes of
Desperate Housewives as Karen McClusky, the bickering elderly neighbour of Lynette Scavo (
Felicity Huffman). For this role, Joosten won an
Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, and appeared as a presenter at the 2005
Emmy Awards telecast. Recently, Joosten appeared in the film
Wedding Crashers, starring
Vince Vaughn and
Owen Wilson; and reprised her role on
Desperate Housewives.
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