When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, I'll Be There
October 24, 2022 4:46 PM Subscribe
This morning, actor Leslie Jordan, known for his cameos on "Will & Grace" and recurring work in "American Horror Story", died in a car crash at age 67. His Instagram during the pandemic was a source of comedy and consoling to many, and his last Instagram is a heartbreaker but a very appropriate final statement.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup
Oh this is so sad. He's one of those guys who is just perfectly funny at everything he does. What a loss.
When he guest judged on Drag Race he was so enamored of Alyssa Edwards, and I quote his dreamy "she's beauuutiful" at one of my dogs at least weekly.
posted by phunniemee at 4:52 PM on October 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
When he guest judged on Drag Race he was so enamored of Alyssa Edwards, and I quote his dreamy "she's beauuutiful" at one of my dogs at least weekly.
posted by phunniemee at 4:52 PM on October 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
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He was a genuine joy to watch. What a damned shame. He will be missed.
posted by annieb at 5:09 PM on October 24, 2022
He was a genuine joy to watch. What a damned shame. He will be missed.
posted by annieb at 5:09 PM on October 24, 2022
Thank you for posting this--I thought about doing it, but I just felt too depressed by it. I was one of those people who was affected by his pandemic posts, and he was that rare celebrity I thought would be just such fun to spend an evening with, just talking the night away.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 5:13 PM on October 24, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by kitten kaboodle at 5:13 PM on October 24, 2022 [8 favorites]
Oh no, much too soon.
Please imagine this is a sparkly thing of joy:
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posted by winesong at 5:20 PM on October 24, 2022
Please imagine this is a sparkly thing of joy:
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posted by winesong at 5:20 PM on October 24, 2022
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posted by joannemerriam at 5:29 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by joannemerriam at 5:29 PM on October 24, 2022
I worked with him for a few days, a million years ago. He had a tiny role in a movie with some very big and important movie stars. He was in a single scene, shot on location in LA, with these big stars, a jillion background performers, a large room that needed to be lit with a lot of big lights, meaning it was about a million degrees in there. And a director who liked approximately ten thousand takes of everything. It was deeply unpleasant, but in the middle of it all was this little guy, just killing it with his handful of lines, happy all day, smiling all day, exhibiting that energy from call time to wrap. 30+ years ago and I remember it well. What a mensch.
He always worked, but how lovely that his career had this big, visible upturn in the last couple of years -- he got to get all those accolades while he was around to hear them.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:35 PM on October 24, 2022 [42 favorites]
He always worked, but how lovely that his career had this big, visible upturn in the last couple of years -- he got to get all those accolades while he was around to hear them.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:35 PM on October 24, 2022 [42 favorites]
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posted by mochapickle at 5:49 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by mochapickle at 5:49 PM on October 24, 2022
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posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 6:04 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 6:04 PM on October 24, 2022
What with this and the "Puff the Magic Dragon" creator the other day, really would like this timeline to stop killing off all the sources of love and light ...
Oh damn. You had me thinking Peter Yarrow died… and then thinking about whether he hadn’t already died a while ago, but he didn’t, and he still hasn’t, it was his co-writer Lenny Lipton.
posted by atoxyl at 6:29 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oh damn. You had me thinking Peter Yarrow died… and then thinking about whether he hadn’t already died a while ago, but he didn’t, and he still hasn’t, it was his co-writer Lenny Lipton.
posted by atoxyl at 6:29 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Fuck cars.
posted by latkes at 6:40 PM on October 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by latkes at 6:40 PM on October 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
I've been quoting his "If I had to haul ass right now, I'd have to make two trips" a lot lately. He brought a very big light into a very dark world.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:51 PM on October 24, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:51 PM on October 24, 2022 [7 favorites]
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:04 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:04 PM on October 24, 2022
His stories about bunking with Robert Downey Jr. in jail are heartbreaking, inspiring and hilarious. I was lucky enough to hear him speak a couple of times in the last year or two, and he was unfailingly entertaining each time (the last time he was being interviewed by Megan Mullally, which was its own kind of a hoot).
Apparently there was a guy in their section with AIDS, and no one would sit with him at meals. Jordan wrote Downey a letter addressed care of the bunk they each occupied during their time in jail, asking/instructing him to sit with the man in question. Downey later confided that he kept that letter in his pocket for a long time as a reminder that you can take action to help another even if you aren't perfect yourself.
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posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 7:45 PM on October 24, 2022 [20 favorites]
Apparently there was a guy in their section with AIDS, and no one would sit with him at meals. Jordan wrote Downey a letter addressed care of the bunk they each occupied during their time in jail, asking/instructing him to sit with the man in question. Downey later confided that he kept that letter in his pocket for a long time as a reminder that you can take action to help another even if you aren't perfect yourself.
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posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 7:45 PM on October 24, 2022 [20 favorites]
✨
posted by ellieBOA at 12:55 AM on October 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:55 AM on October 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
this is just the saddest ✨ [sparkle emoji]
posted by elgee at 2:51 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by elgee at 2:51 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
He brought such joy to the screen and the Internet, particularly these past few years as he found an audience on social media. RIP and give em hell up there.
Also want to note his career feels like a landmark in gay acceptance in the US. His persona in some ways is an echo of 70s camp, Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Riley and the like. But they always performed from the closet, veiling their identity and making the best out of being outsiders. Jones was just himself and camp and fun a lot of the time, serious and thoughtful others. But always himself, unapologetically gay, and America loved that in him.
posted by Nelson at 4:19 AM on October 25, 2022 [9 favorites]
Also want to note his career feels like a landmark in gay acceptance in the US. His persona in some ways is an echo of 70s camp, Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Riley and the like. But they always performed from the closet, veiling their identity and making the best out of being outsiders. Jones was just himself and camp and fun a lot of the time, serious and thoughtful others. But always himself, unapologetically gay, and America loved that in him.
posted by Nelson at 4:19 AM on October 25, 2022 [9 favorites]
He seemed like such a dear man. I had no idea he was so young. 67 is too young!
<3
posted by pxe2000 at 7:04 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
<3
posted by pxe2000 at 7:04 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
My wife loved him on W&G and all his little things on social media. I was this >< close to buying a Cameo from Leslie for my wife's birthday and now, obviously, that's a huge regret. What a charming man.
He always worked, but how lovely that his career had this big, visible upturn in the last couple of years
It seems that upturn allowed him to buy his first home a few months ago. What a heartbreaking thing to read.
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posted by JoeZydeco at 7:25 AM on October 25, 2022 [5 favorites]
He always worked, but how lovely that his career had this big, visible upturn in the last couple of years
It seems that upturn allowed him to buy his first home a few months ago. What a heartbreaking thing to read.
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posted by JoeZydeco at 7:25 AM on October 25, 2022 [5 favorites]
I only became aware of him via The Cool Kids, where he routinely stole scenes from Vicki Lawrence, David Alan Grier, and Martin Mull, and if that ain't a first-ballot HoF achievement all by itself, then whoo, I don't know what to tell you.
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posted by Etrigan at 8:40 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Etrigan at 8:40 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Leslie Jordan in one of the better episodes of the Snatch Game.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:38 AM on October 25, 2022
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:38 AM on October 25, 2022
(SLYT). How Ya'll Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well-Lived with Leslie Jordan
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 9:08 PM on October 25, 2022
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 9:08 PM on October 25, 2022
I heard the victory of escape in the lilt of your voice.
posted by Etrigan at 8:12 AM on October 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 8:12 AM on October 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
My thoughts are a bit jumbled right now but all I can think about is his sweet sticker book and the delight he had in sharing the kitten pages in particular. That one video healed a part of my soul, the part that also had a sticker book full of cat pictures I wanted to show others quite badly when I was little.
I hope he is charming the wings off every angel in heaven right now.
posted by The Adventure Begins at 11:33 PM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I hope he is charming the wings off every angel in heaven right now.
posted by The Adventure Begins at 11:33 PM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
...charming the wings off every angel
At first I read that as "Charming the wigs off every angel," which was just as delightful a mental image.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:39 PM on November 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
At first I read that as "Charming the wigs off every angel," which was just as delightful a mental image.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:39 PM on November 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Also, his life story would make a great movie, but no living actor could do the role justice.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:47 PM on November 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:47 PM on November 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Before this thread is closed due to age, Matt Baume made a fine little posthumous mini-doc about him. Maybe no one will see this with all the crazy headlines going around right now but - for the archivists who may later check this thread - I felt this was a solid video tribute.
posted by revmitcz at 2:00 AM on November 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by revmitcz at 2:00 AM on November 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Oh that’s so good. Thank you, revmitcz!
posted by mochapickle at 5:03 AM on November 21, 2022
posted by mochapickle at 5:03 AM on November 21, 2022
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
I watched 'em all."
-Leslie Jordan
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posted by clavdivs at 4:52 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]