Leslie Jordan, Will & Grace and The Help star, dies at 67
Leslie Jordan, the beloved comedian best known for his supporting role as Beverley Leslie on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, has died at age 67, EW can confirm.
The actor was reportedly driving his car in Hollywood on Monday morning before suffering a medical emergency and crashing his BMW into the side of a building, according to TMZ.
"The world is definitely a much darker place today without the love and light of Leslie Jordan," his talent agent, David Shaul, said in a statement to EW. "Not only was he a mega talent and joy to work with, but he provided an emotional sanctuary to the nation at one of its most difficult times. What he lacked in height he made up for in generosity and greatness as a son, brother, artist, comedian, partner and human being. Knowing that he has left the world at the height of both his professional and personal life is the only solace one can have today."
The Emmy-winning actor found a new audience throughout the coronavirus pandemic, during which he shared several viral videos documenting his time in quarantine, after moving back to Chattanooga, Tenn. to be closer to his mother, Peggy Ann. This past May, the actor shared on Instagram that his mother had died at age 86.
David Livingston/Getty Images Leslie Jordan
In addition to his Emmy-winning role as Karen's (Megan Mullally) popular frenemy on the LGBTQ comedy series from 2001 through the show's revival edition in 2020, Jordan also played memorable characters in projects like the 2011 Best Picture-nominated drama The Help alongside Viola Davis and Emma Stone, as well as on three separate seasons of FX's American Horror Story anthology series.
Before his death, Jordan landed a leading role on the ongoing Fox sitcom Call Me Kat, starring alongside Mayim Bialik as a baker at the titular character's cafe.
Earlier this year, he also appeared on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race season 14, where he played a small, but entertaining, part in the Moulin Ru: The Rusical stage challenge. Returning Drag Race queen Trinity The Tuck — who remembered Jordan as a "queer icon" following his death — later portrayed him on the All Stars 7 Snatch Game celebrity impersonation challenge.
The Tennessee native put out his debut album in 2021. Company's Comin', a mix of country, gospel, and Americana, featured an all-star lineup including Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Eddie Vedder, Brandi Carlile, and Chris and Morgane Stapleton.
In a 2021 interview for his How Y'all Doing? essay collection, Jordan told EW that he had a specific affinity for well-researched accents — particularly those with a drawl similar to his.
"Whenever I watch movies and a Southern accent comes around, I think, 'What part of the South is that from?'" he said at the time, adding that he loves to revisit Sissy Spacek's Coal Miner's Daughter as a good example. "In Coal Miner's Daughter, which is Loretta Lynn's story, the accents are dead-on. I'm friends with Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline, and she sent me a picture of her in yellow pedal pushers. They must not have used that footage."
Outside of his work in Hollywood, Jordan also worked to help his queer community through the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, shortly following his arrival to California to pursue his dream of acting in 1982.
"I think we realized as a community we have to take care of our own. I was around for the beginning, you know, [AIDS Project Los Angeles], buddy systems, this and that," Jordan said in a 2017 Huffington Post interview, though he admitted he was fired from the food delivery initiative. "I couldn't get the food there because…some of these people…I had four meals I had to deliver, and I was supposed to deliver it and keep moving, but I was the only person they saw."
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