Leslie Jordan, a Quarantine Hero With Memorable Roles in ‘Will and Grace’ and ’Sordid Lives,’ Dead at 67

Jon Blistein
·6 min read
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Hearts Afire - Credit: CBS/Getty Images
Hearts Afire - Credit: CBS/Getty Images

Leslie Jordan, the endlessly effervescent and entertaining actor, comedian, and singer, died Monday, Oct. 24, following a fatal car crash in Los Angeles. He was 67.

Jordan’s agent, David Shaul, confirmed the actor’s death to Rolling Stone. “The world is definitely a much darker place today without the love and light of Leslie Jordan,” he said. “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.”

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According to The Los Angeles Times, Jordan was driving a BMW when he crashed into the side of a building in the Hollywood area at around 9:30 a.m. Jordan was declared dead at the scene, though an exact cause of death has yet to be determined: It’s unclear if Jordan died in the crash, or if he suffered a medical emergency right before (the condition of the vehicle suggested Jordan may have lost control of it before the crash).

Jordan spent several decades working on stage and screen, popping up on hit shows like American Horror Story and The Cool Kids, as well as Will and Grace, for which he won an Outstanding Guest Actor Emmy in 2006. He’s also widely known for his performance in Del Shores’ LGBTQ classic, Sordid Lives. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jordan captured the internet’s attention with his regular quarantine video musings, going viral on several occasions.

Demi Lovato paid tribute to Jordan on Instagram, writing, “Your smile and personality lit up the room when I met you. I’m so glad we remained friends after meeting not long ago… we had more plans but our time was cut short. You will be so dearly missed by so many. I’m so honored to call you friend. I love you sweet angel.”

Will and Grace star Sean Hayes wrote, “My heart is broken. Leslie Jordan was one of the funniest people I ever had the pleasure of working with.  Everyone who ever met him, loved him.  There will never be anyone like him. A unique talent with an enormous, caring heart. You will be missed, my dear friend. “

Shores shared a photo of himself and Jordan on Twitter, along with the short message, “I’m processing this lost and it is beyond devastating. Thank you for all the messages, calls and condolences. This is all I can do right now. I’ll be back.”

Jordan was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 29, 1955. Though he grew up in a strict Southern Baptist community, Jordan came out as gay to his mother when he was 12. Jordan has described her as accepting, noting in an Instagram video this past March that her initial response was to try and protect him, encouraging him to “live a quiet life,” lest he be subject to ridicule.

“So, here I am,” Jordan exclaimed with a laugh, “living a quiet life!”

As Jordan told The Guardian last year, he first left home in his early 20s and moved to Atlanta, where he started working with race horses and the famous trainer Horatio Luro. During a belated stint in college, he studied journalism and theater, then moved to Los Angeles, where he quickly started getting cast in commercials, TV shows, and occasional movies. He also delved into the city’s gay nightlife scene, and in the early Nineties, worked with nonprofits to provide food and comfort to people battling HIV and AIDS.

Throughout all of this, however, Jordan was drinking heavily and using drugs. He finally got sober at the age of 42 following a stint in jail. “That’s what I tell people: if you want to get sober, try 27 days in the LA men’s county jail,” he quipped. “That will sober your ass up.”

In 1996, Jordan was cast in Del Shores’ play Sordid Lives, scoring one of the central roles as Earl “Brother Boy” Ingram, a gay man with a Tammy Wynette obsession and a love of drag, who’s been institutionalized for over 20 years. Jordan earned rave reviews for his performance, and later reprised the role in Shores’ 2000 film adaptation of Sordid Lives, as well as a 2008 TV series, and a 2017 sequel, A Very Sordid Wedding.

Though never a major hit, Sordid Lives quickly became a cult classic, especially in the LGBTQ community. In a recent interview with Vice, Jordan recalled, “Right after the movie came out I was in Piccadilly Circus [in London] and a taxi started following me. I thought, this is creepy. They rolled down the window and shouted ‘Can you see my pussy now?’ [which Brother Boy yells at a homophobic warden]. I thought, oh my gosh they’re hollering my lines out of the taxi cabs in London!”

The bulk of Jordan’s work in the Nineties and 2000s, came in the form of TV guest spots, though he did have a regular part on the short-lived sitcom Hearts Afire. He made his first appearance on Will and Grace as Beverly Leslie — a rival of Megan Mullally’s Karen Walker — in 2001, and went on to make 12 appearances on the series (as well as its recent reboot). He first joined the American Horror Story franchise on the 2013 series, Coven, then popped up in 2016’s Roanoke and 2019’s 1984.

Jordan was also an accomplished writer, who penned several autobiographical stage shows and books. His first one-man show, Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far, premiered in 1994 and found him tracing his journey from Tennessee to Hollywood with the help of a full gospel choir. His 2008 show, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, was turned into a book of the same. And just last year, he released another book, How Y’all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived.

Though a constant and familiar presence in certain corners of pop culture, Jordan seemed poised for a late career renaissance when his quarantine videos went viral at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Along with publishing How Y’all Doing, he had a prominent role in the the Billie Holiday biopic, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and was cast as a series regular on the Fox sitcom, Call Me Kat, which just kicked off its third season

Last year, Jordan also released his first album, a collection of gospel songs called, Company’s Comin’. As he told Rolling Stone at the time, the songs he recorded were largely ones he remembered from his Southern Baptist youth, though he aimed to perform them without any bitterness.

“To be able to come back to these hymns with no axe to grind, I’ve taken care of all that,” he said. “I’m 22 years clean and sober, so you do a lot of work in A.A. about anger and resentment and all of that. You just come to realize, everybody back then was doing the best they could with the light they had to see with.”

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