Trivia

Did not start acting until she was 42 years old.

Died of lung cancer on the morning of June 2, 2012. Her death happened 20 days after the onscreen death (also of cancer) of her character Karen McCluskey on the final episode of Desperate Housewives.

In his autobiographical novel, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" (p.33, "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making), Dave Eggers revealed that Kathryn Joosten hung the wallpaper in his bedroom when he was a child.

Following her death she was promptly cremated. Her ashes were scattered.

She was a lifelong Democrat.

Underwent surgery for lung cancer in 2001.

Mother of two boys.

Kathryn Joosten was among five subjects of an article entitled "A Tough Scene for Actors" by James Bates and Claudia Eller, published in The Los Angeles Times on June 16, 2001. The other actors included in the article were Kent Faulcon, Allyce Beasley, Matt Kimbrough, and Brad Blaisdell.