The great character actor Kathryn Joosten passed away Friday at 72.
Joosten popped up all over the place and I never saw her hit a wrong note or mail it in. She’s probably best-known for Desperate Housewives — for which she won two Emmys — and for playing Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing, in which she was terrific.
But the two things she did that I most remember were a cheerfully filthy Funny Or Die sketch (“The Committee Ep. 1: Bad Dog,” very, very NSFW) and her recurring role on Joan of Arcadia as God.
Lots of actors appeared on that show as God. She was my favorite.
This is the only YouTube clip I could find of her on that show, which is a shame because it’s a scene in which God explains things to Joan, and the show worked best when God didn’t explain things. So I’m not bowled over by the platitudes God offers in this scene, and I don’t think making a teenage break-up the basis for a discussion of theodicy quite works.
But turn off the sound and just watch the scene. The young girl is us. The old woman is God:
That’ll preach.
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