Good Night, Mrs. Landingham

Kathryn Joosten, who made a living out of playing doomed old ladies, has died of lung cancer at the age of 72. Her passing this time did not receive the fanfare of Mrs. Landingham’s, which led California Assemblyman Kevin Shelley to adjourn the Assembly in honor of the passing of “a great American,” further establishing that California politicians do not inhabit the really world. Her death after a year and a half of New England drollery on The West Wing was followed by an extended arc as a patient who explains to JD that everybody dies, a point apparently overlooked in his medical training. Then she took up residence on Wisteria Lane when her planned one-off appearance as Karen McCluskey turned into Septuagenarians Say the Darnedest Things, with her winning two Emmys while doing things like asking Nicollette Sheridan “We going for drinks or mammograms?” She died in the Desperate Housewives finale, 3 weeks before her own finale. Other notable entries on the resume: Mega Python vs. Gatoroid and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.