She became Bartlet's secretary, filling that function for many years before and including his presidency. But as time went on and he ruminated on the idea, the more he liked it. Audiences were devastated when Mrs. Landingham got written off the show but why did they have to say goodbye to such a beloved character in the first place? See Joosten as Mrs. Landingham by watching The West Wing on Netflix. “I needed this guy’s world to come in on him so badly that he just snapped in the National Cathedral and turned on God,” he added.

Delores Landingham (played by Kathryn Joosten and known universally as Mrs. Landingham) is a character in the television series The West Wing. In The West Wing Season 2 Episode 22: “Two Cathedrals,” the president grappled with losing Mrs. Landingham in a performance that secured Sheen an Emmy nomination. It had simply been a creative decision. A young Mrs. Landingham Mrs. Landingham first met President Bartlet when she worked as a secretary for his father, the headmaster of his prep school. Joosten told Sorkin she’d been approached about becoming a series regular on a new show that had been in the process of filming its pilot episode. In a plot twist that shocked viewers, Mrs. Landingham’s time serving at the pleasure of  the president ended in The West Wing Season 2 Episode 21: “18th and Potomac.”. While she wasn’t among the main characters  on The West Wing, Mrs. Dolores Landingham, played by Kathryn Joosten (and Psych’s Kirsten Nelson in flashbacks), became a beloved part of Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed political drama. Following her character’s exit, Joosten spoke witih the Los Angeles Times in 2001, telling the publication behind-the-scenes drama hadn’t been the reason for her exit. She is the only White House staffer whom the President nearly always addresses formally; he typically calls her "Mrs. Landingham", although he addresses other, more senior members of his staff, and Mrs. Landingham's eventual replacement, by their first names. Oftentimes when actors and their characters are suddenly removed from a TV program, it can mean one of two things; 1) the actor has health concerns or 2) there’s a contract dispute that can’t be settled.

March 22, 2020 While she wasn’t among the main characters on The West Wing, Mrs. Dolores Landingham, played by Kathryn Joosten (and Psych ’s Kirsten Nelson in flashbacks), became a … In another flashback in the episode "Bartlet for America", Mrs. Landingham is shown working as Jed Bartlet's secretary during his tenure as Governor and it is possible she worked for him when he was in the United States House of Representatives. Looking for some great streaming picks?

Kathryn is best known for her portrayals of "Karen McCluskey" on Desperate Housewives (2004) on ABC and of "Mrs. Landingham", secretary to the President (Martin Sheen), on the critically-acclaimed NBC drama, The West Wing (1999). She’d known him since his high school days and once described herself as a surrogate big sister to the president. Joosten went on to have roles in others TV programs such as Scrubs and Desperate Housewives before her death in 2012 at the age of 72. Mrs. Landingham appears in the first two seasons of the show as the executive secretary of President of the United States Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen). She is the personal secretary to President Josiah Bartlet, and to a large extent controls access by the other characters to the President. In the 21st episode of the second season of the show "18th and Potomac", Mrs. Landingham is killed by a drunk driver while driving to the White House to show the President (at his request) a new car she just bought. While she wasn’t among the main characters on The West Wing, Mrs. Dolores Landingham, played by Kathryn Joosten (and Psych’s Kirsten Nelson in flashbacks), became a beloved part of Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed political drama. In the case of Joosten and Mrs. Landingham it had been none of the above. In a separate interview in 2001 with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sorkin said the idea for Mrs. Landingham’s unexpected exit came after having a conversation with Joosten while at a charity dinner the cast attended.

Today, the Season 2 finale is widely regarded as one of the best episodes in the show’s seven-season run. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Sorkin said. In the show, she describes herself as a surrogate big sister to Bartlet. It is revealed in "In Excelsis Deo" that her twin sons (Andrew and Simon) were killed in the Vietnam War on Christmas Eve, 1970. She made it clear she wasn’t sure if she’d take the role but at that point the wheels were turning in Sorkin’s head about what an abrupt departure from Mrs. Landingham would mean for Sheen’s character. Sorkin did just that.

Delores Landingham (played by Kathryn Joosten[1] and known universally as Mrs. Landingham) is a character in the television series The West Wing. 2020 Showbiz Cheat Sheet, All Rights Reserved.

After word got around the office Mrs. Landingham purchased her first new car, the president asked her to come back to the White House after picking it up so he could see it.

Tragically, as she made her way back to the White House, she got in a collision with a drunken driver, and died off-screen. Landingham was married to United States Air Force Major Henry Landingham, who served in the Korean War, though she is a widow by the time she begins work at the White House. She believed Jed Bartlet stood in need of a 'big sister' and assigned herself the role. In flashbacks during this episode it is revealed that she first met Bartlet when he was a teenager in his native New Hampshire, where his father served as headmaster of a private school. Mrs. Landingham appears in the first two seasons of the show as the executive secretary of President of the United States Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen). Mrs. Landingham (played by Kirsten Nelson in the flashback episodes) was at that time Bartlet's father's new secretary. Find out ahead. “I needed to take him right to the edge.”. The twins' lottery number had come up while in medical school and despite their parents' strong opposition, they decided not to get a deferment, wanting instead to "go where people needed doctors". Build up your Halloween Watchlist with our list of the most popular horror titles on Netflix in October. Kathryn is best known for her portrayals of "Karen McCluskey" on, Ron Cephas Jones has another shot to enter the Emmy record books for ‘This Is Us’, Orson Bean, ‘Dr.