Another outstanding performer and actor has passed away unexpectedly. On Monday, October 24, 2022, at the age of 67, Leslie Jordan was killed in an automobile accident in Los Angeles. The exact cause of death is unknown at this time.
The Emmy-winning actor and LGBTQ+ icon, who may also be recognized by some as this year’s Academy Award nominations announcer, leaves behind a remarkable body of work in which his charismatic and joyful presence sometimes overshadowed that of his co-stars. His career spanned over 40 years. In remembrance of his brilliant but too-brief career, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite Leslie Jordan films and TV episodes, along with details on where to get them online or in stores.
Will & Grace (2001-2020)
Debra Messing plays an interior designer and Eric McCormack plays her homosexual best friend, a lawyer in New York City. Their pals, the flamboyant Jack (Sean Hayes) and the filthy affluent Karen (Megan Mullally), also make appearances. Among the top Leslie Jordan TV programs, Beverley Leslie, a traditional aristocrat who vehemently claims he is homosexual despite several signs to the contrary, was one of Leslie Jordan’s most famous and scene-stealing recurring performances on a TV program and garnered him an Emmy Award in 2006.
“Boston Legal” (2005)
Although Alan Shore’s (Emmy winner James Spader, reprising his character from The Practice) techniques are morally dubious, with the support of his buddy and a veteran in the profession, Denny Crane (Emmy winner William Shatner), he becomes a successful partner at a Boston legal firm. Among the top Leslie Jordan TV programs because: Leslie Jordan has appeared in several David E. Kelley television series, including Ally McBeal and Boston Public, and has received critical acclaim for his recurring role as Bernard Ferrion on Boston Legal. Ferron had a history of murdering people by striking them with frying pans.
The Help (2011)
Frustrated by the racism she sees around her, a young, aspiring writer (Emma Stone) decides to write a novel about the white housewives in her town from the point of view of the black maids who work for them (Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, both Academy Award winners). Among the top Leslie Jordan films, Tate Taylor’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help featured one of Leslie Jordan’s most memorable and scene-stealing roles as Mr. Blackly, the eccentric boss of Emma Stone’s character, Skeeter, who hires her to write an advice column for the local newspaper.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)
Andra Day plays a gifted jazz singer who battles her own debilitating addiction while also fighting for the opportunity to perform her iconic song “Strange Fruit,” which laments the racist history of lynching in the United States. Among the top Leslie Jordan films, Lee Daniels’ illuminating biography The United States vs. Billie Holiday, for which the top-charting singer was nominated for an Academy Award, is a courtroom drama starring Leslie Jordan as a journalist called Reginald Lord Devine, who interviews the eponymous soprano.
American Horror Story (2013–2019)
One episode of this terrifying seasonal anthology series follows a talented young woman as she joins a New Orleans-based coven and learns about the competitive world of witchcraft. Other episodes show the victims of a haunting returning to the original site with the actors who played them in a hit TV reenactment and a killer stalking a group of youths at a summer camp in the mid-1980s. Among the top Leslie Jordan TV programs is American Horror Story is one of the best horror TV shows on Hulu, and Leslie Jordan has starred in three of them, stealing the show each time: in Season 3 (Coven) as a Witches’ Council member, in Season 6 (Roanoke) as an actor playing a medium, and in Season 9 (1984) as the personal assistant to Leslie Grossman’s character.
Goodbye, Lover (1998)
After plotting to kill her boyfriend and his brother (Don Johnson) for insurance money, a real estate agent (Patricia Arquette) and her husband (Dermot Mulroney) find themselves on the trail of a no-nonsense investigator (Ellen DeGeneres). Among the top Leslie Jordan films, Goodbye Lover, directed by Roland Joffé, features Leslie Jordan in a supporting role with Mary-Louise Parker and Ray McKinnon (of Deadwood) in an ensemble cast that successfully blends criminal drama and high-brow humor.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1991)
A complex scheme to eliminate Jason Voorhees is effective, yet the legendary killer is still able to escape death by unexplained magical means. Among the top Leslie Jordan films because American Horror Story wasn’t Leslie Jordan’s first foray into the horror genre, he also played a waiter named Shelby in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, which, despite the title, is not the final installment in the Friday the 13th film series but is easily the most hilarious.
The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018)
A guy (Ian Ziering) and his loved ones get together to devise a cunning strategy to stop a fatal, reoccurring storm of high winds and ravenous aquatic animals from occurring in the first place. Among the top Leslie Jordan films is The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time, the last episode of Syfy’s series of absurd monster films. This is another horror-centric title in Leslie Jordan’s portfolio; in this one, he portrays Benjamin Franklin.
The Cool Kids (2018-2019)
David Alan Grier, Martin Mull, and Leslie Jordan play a trio of lifelong friends who are shocked to meet a new neighbor (Vickie Lawrence) who is even more unruly than they are. Among the top Leslie Jordan TV programs because: In the same year that he made his appearance in The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time, Jordan landed the lead role of the wiser but still vivacious and flamboyant Sid on Fox’s The Cool Kids, a popular but short-lived sitcom about people who refuse to let age slow them down.
Sordid Lives (2000)
A Texas family is brought back together by the death of the matriarch, who compels them to face their darkest secrets and their frustrations with one another. Among the top Leslie Jordan films, possibly the funniest film in which Leslie Jordan appears is Sordid Lives, a film version of Del Shores’ satirical, Southern-fried play in which Jordan portrays a drag queen who fashions himself like country music icon Tammy Wynette.
Call me Kat (2021-2022).
A charmingly quirky middle-aged single lady (Mayim Bialik) uses the wedding money her parents gave her to create a café catering to cat lovers. Among the top Leslie Jordan TV programs A couple of years after The Cool Kids ended, Mayim Bialik’s version of the British comedy Miranda, Call Me Kat, premiered on Fox with Leslie Jordan in the lead role of the eponymous character’s buddy and coworker, Phil. Like many others who worked with him, Mayim Bialik took to social media to express her grief at his death and announce that production on Call Me Kat will be temporarily halted. The host of Jeopardy! has said that it is “inconceivable to imagine a world without Leslie.” Without a one-of-a-kind character like Leslie Jordan, I believe we can all agree that life will be different and maybe a bit less vibrant.
