High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Karl Mayer is a fictional character played by actor Richard Burgi and created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry for the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. He is the ex-husband of one of the titular characters, housewife Susan Mayer (played by Teri Hatcher), and the father of Julie Mayer (played by Andrea Bowen), as well as a successful practitioner of family law. The character is also romantically involved in the series with two other major housewives: Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) and Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross).