Karen McCluskey has kept a lot of secrets over the years. She's remained a character in the background, yet she has her hand in a part of nearly every story. Mrs. McCluskey is the woman we want as our mother - most of the time.
Over the years, we've heard some pretty strange things about the background of Karen McCluskey. She has revealed that she was once a model, and had a very vague involvement in sex trade. We also find out that she hid her first husband Gilbert McCluskey's body in a freezer so his first wife wouldn't inherit his money.
Despite some eccentric qualities, we like Mrs. McCluskey from the beginning. In Season 1, we see her become a friend to Lynette Scavo and helps her by babysitting for her kids, until Lynette decides she is too old for the job. In the second season, Mrs. McCluskey discovered that Bree Van de Kamp had been drinking while babysitting the Scavo kids. Lynette asks her to take over watching the kids and the two become close again. This relationship continues in the following season when she takes a more outspoken roll in the neighborhood, often attending gatherings of the housewives.
It is also in Season 3 that the body of Gilbert McCluskey is discovered and his widow ends up in jail until they prove he died of natural causes. It takes awhile for the neighborhood to come around to her innocence, but soon Mrs. McCluskey is once again a beloved housewife.
For most of Season 4, we saw Karen McCluskey front and center, in the middle of Edie and Carlos' relationship; questioning Katherine Mayfair on her return to Wisteria Lane; battling Bob and Lee's choice of lawn decorations; and taking refuse with Lynette during the tornado. The season ends with all of the women (and men) of "Desperate Housewives" consoling themselves in the aftermath of the tornado and Mrs. McCluskey is front and center.
Karen McCluskey becomes suspicious in Edie's new husband, Dave Williams, in Season 5 and does her best to protect her friend while putting her own life at risk. Eventually she finds out the truth about the dangerous Williams, whose wife and child were killed in the accident caused by Susan Delfino. The story carries over into Season 6, the most interesting and exciting for Karen McCluskey. She falls in love with Roy Bender, fights cancer and becomes engaged.
Kathryn Joosten, who was born December 20, 1939, has played Karen McCluskey since the character was introduced in the show's first season. Before she came to "Desperate Housewives" she was best known as Mrs. Landingham, the President's secretary, on "The West Wing." Joosten has also appeared on numerous other television shows, including "Becker," "Providence," "Dharma and Greg" and "Ally McBeal."
It's interesting that Kathryn Joosten - like Karen McCluskey - has shown her ability later in life. Joosten didn't begin acting until she was in her 40s. Before her acting career started, she was a nurse and mother of two, living in a high income suburb of Chicago not unlike the one Wisteria Lane was modeled after. That life changed with a divorce and Joosten used the opportunity to begin acting on stage in Chicago, just as co-star James Denton (aka Mike Delfino) had.
In Season 7, we see Karen argue a bit with Paul Young, admit that she kept the secret that Felicia Tillman framed him and show her shock at the fact that Beth was actually Felicia's daughter, but at the end of Season 7, we don't see Karen McCluskey involved in any of the major storylines. It's highly likely, though, that Mrs. McCluskey is harboring another secret in the background that will be revealed in the show's final season.
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