Karl Mayer is a fictional character portrayed by Richard Burgi and created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry for the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. He is the ex-husband of housewife Susan Mayer and father of Julie Mayer, as well as a successful practitioner of family law. The character also becomes romantically involved in the series with two other housewives, Edie Britt and Bree Van De Kamp, both of whom he gets engaged to. Karl dies in Season 6, Episode 11 after injuries sustained when a plane crashes into Wisteria Lane during the Christmas Festival. He reappeared briefly as a ghost in the series finale.

Richard William Burgi is an American film and television actor best known for the roles of Det. Jim Ellison on The Sentinel and as Karl Mayer on Desperate Housewives. He also portrayed Paul Hornsby in the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital, and Ashland Locke in the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless.