Leslie Jordan, Emmy-winning Will & Grace actor, dead at 67

Leslie Jordan, the Emmy-winning actor whose wry Southern drawl and flexibility made him a comedy and drama standout on TV sequence together with Will & Grace and American Horror Story, has died. Jordan, whose movies turned him right into a social media star in the course of the pandemic, was 67.

He died Monday in a single automobile crash in Hollywood, in line with experiences by celeb information web site TMZ and the Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed regulation enforcement sources.

“The world is unquestionably a a lot darker place as we speak with out the love and lightweight of Leslie Jordan. Not solely was he a mega expertise and pleasure to work with, however he offered an emotional sanctuary to the nation at certainly one of its most tough instances,” a consultant for Jordan stated in a press release Monday.

“Knowing that he has left the world at the peak of each his skilled and private life is the one solace one can have as we speak.”

The stars of Will & Grace mourned Jordan’s demise.

“My coronary heart is damaged,” tweeted Sean Hayes. “Everyone who ever met him, liked him. There won’t ever be anybody like him. A novel expertise with an infinite, caring coronary heart. You will likely be missed, my expensive pal.”

Eric McCormack, who performed title character Will Truman, stated on Twitter that he was crushed to study of Jordan’s demise, calling him “the funniest & flirtiest southern gent I’ve ever recognized.” 

“The pleasure and laughter he introduced to each certainly one of his [Will and Grace] episodes was palpable.”

The native of Chattanooga, Tenn., who received an excellent visitor actor Emmy in 2005 for his position as Beverly Leslie on the hit NBC Sitcom, appeared lately on the Mayim Bialik comedy Call me Kat and co-starred on the sitcom The Cool Kids.

Jordan’s different credit embrace Fantasy Island and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. He additionally performed numerous roles on the American Horror Story franchise sequence.

Earning a brand new social media following

Jordan earned an surprising new following in 2021 when he hung out in the course of the pandemic lockdown close to household in his hometown — posting day by day movies of himself on Instagram and TikTok.

Many of his movies included him asking “How y’all doin?” and a few included tales about Hollywood or his childhood rising up with equivalent twin sisters and their “mama,” as he referred to as her. Other instances he did foolish bits like full an indoor hurdle course.

“Someone referred to as from California and stated, ‘Oh, honey, you have gone viral.’ And I stated, ‘No, no, I haven’t got COVID. I’m simply in Tennessee,’ ” stated Jordan.

Celebrities, together with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Alba and Anderson Cooper, together with manufacturers similar to Reebok and Lululemon, would touch upon his posts. 

Soon he grew to become fixated with the variety of views and followers he had, as a result of there wasn’t a lot else occurring.

“For some time there, it was like obsessive. And I assumed, ‘This is ridiculous. Stop, cease, cease.’ You know, it virtually grew to become, ‘If it would not occur on Instagram, it did not occur.’ And I assumed, ‘You’re 65, initially. You’re not some teenage woman.’ ” 

The highlight led to new alternatives. Earlier this month he launched a gospel album referred to as Company’s Comin that includes Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton, Brandi (*67*), Eddie Vedder and Tanya Tucker.

Books shared encounters with fame, Baptist Church

He additionally wrote a ebook referred to as How Y’all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived.

It was Jordan’s second ebook, following his 2008 memoir, My Trip Down the Red Carpet.

“That type of handled all of the angst and rising up homosexual within the Baptist Church … I simply wished to inform tales,” he stated in an interview final yr. 

The new ebook’s anecdotes included tales of working with Lady Gaga on American Horror Story, how his assembly Star Wars actor Carrie Fisher led to her mom, Debbie Reynolds, calling his mom, and the Shetland pony named Midnight that he obtained as a baby.

In a 2014 interview with Philadelphia journal, Jordan was requested how he associated to his position within the 2013 movie Southern Baptist Sissies, which explores rising up homosexual whereas being raised in a conservative Baptist church.

“I actually wished to be a extremely good Christian, like a number of the boys within the film. I used to be baptized 14 instances,” Jordan stated.

“Every time the preacher would say, ‘Come ahead, sinners!’ I’d say ‘Oooh, I used to be out within the woods with that boy, I higher go ahead.’ My mom thought I used to be being dramatic. She’d say, ‘Leslie, you are already saved,’ and I’d say, ‘Well, I do not suppose it took.’ “

A storyteller by nature

Jordan stated he thought-about himself a storyteller by nature.

“It’s very Southern. If I used to be to be taught a lesson or one thing after I was a child, I used to be instructed a narrative,” the actor stated.

Jordan first arrived in Los Angeles in 1982 on a Trailways bus “with a dream and $1,200 pinned in my undershorts,” hoping to make it as an actor. He was instructed his 4-foot-11 stature and accent would maintain him again, however proved the naysaysers incorrect.

His large break got here enjoying the position of a hapless ex-con in a 1989 episode of Murphy Brown.

“When that episode aired, my agent referred to as the subsequent day and stated, ‘I’ve by no means seen something like this. The cellphone is ringing off the hook.’ “