Jordan was best known for his scene-stealing work on the sitcom Will & Grace, where he played Beverley Leslie, a socialite frenemy of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally).
His former Will & Grace co-stars Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes are today “heartbroken” at news of his death:
Fellow Will & Grace stars Mullally and Debra Messing are yet to publicly comment on Jordan’s death.
Another star described him as a “walking ball of love”.
His final post before his death showed him working on a musical project he promised “should be comin’ out real soon”.
“Leslie I can’t believe!” wrote singer Nicole Scherzinger. “Just broken hearted. You were the Love and Light my friend. Love you so much and will miss you so much.”
“This is too sad for us today,” wrote actress Selma Blair “Oh Leslie! I love you so much. So much. You are stardust and all the love we are all crying into world. My own spirit lifts when I think of you. And always will. I can imagine millions of others are thanking the heavens you existed here. And gave your true self , but I want your hug again. Your strong hold. You showed me what a great man can be. I love you. I hug your loved ones. Talk to you at cocktail hour soon,” she wrote.
“He was the funniest, loveliest guy on the planet and a true friend,” said actor Dylan McDermott.
“Every Christmas he’d put me on speaker phone to chat with his mom and the twins. My heart breaks for Cricket. She lost her whole family this year. Let’s keep her lifted in prayer,” wrote actress Octavia Spencer, referring to Jordan’s sister.
“You Leslie. You were the purest form of funny there ever was. RIP, sir,” said Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet.
Others paid tribute via Twitter - including country legend Dolly Parton, who dubbed Jordan her “lil brother”:
“This is the saddest news. So shocking. A real loss. I loved Leslie; just loved him,” fellow comic actor Amy Sedaris wrote on Instagram.
“This is absolutely heartbreaking. That joyful beautiful soul,” Juliette Lewis wrote under her post.
In recent years, Jordan was an occasional, hilarious guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race – and performers from that franchise paid tribute too:
And among all the tributes was a very funny unheard Jordan anecdote from fellow actor Paul F. Tompkins, who revealed that several years ago, he attended an audition to play TV legend Carol Burnett’s gay best friend in a sitcom that would mark her return to the small screen. The character was to be “well dressed but NOT FLAMBOYANT”.
“The assemblage of people at the audition was WILD. Lots of familiar faces, everyone from Jerry Minor to Paul Reubens to … Leslie Jordan. Everyone was in suit and tie,” Tompkins tweeted.
“I was wearing a light blue suit with a pearl grey vest and yellow necktie. When Leslie Jordan came into the room he cracked about a dozen jokes to the room within a minute and then looked at me and said, “I guess you didn’t get the note about ‘flamboyant’.”
