Leslie Jordan helps announce 2021 Oscar nominees. (Photo: Getty Images)
Actor Leslie Jordan’s official cause of death has been confirmed: He was suffering from “sudden cardiac dysfunction and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office confirmed Thursday to Yahoo Entertainment.
The beloved Call Me Kat actor and social media star, 67, died in a car accident on the morning of October 24 at Cahuenga Boulevard and Romaine Street in West Hollywood, California. He had been on his way to the set of the sitcom and it was suspected from the start that he had crashed into the side of a building due to a medical emergency.
The sudden death led to tributes from Jordan’s current and former colleagues, including Ellen DeGenres, George Takei and his former Will and Grace castmates. They remembered someone who was happy, always telling stories and causing laughs in real life, just as he was online.
Actress Mayim Bialik, Call Me Kat’s Kat issued a cast statement when Jordan died, prompting the sitcom to pause production.
“There are no words to express the loss we are experiencing as a cast and as a Call-Me-Kat family,” Bialik said. “Leslie Jordan was larger than life. He was a southern gentleman; tender, wise, cheeky and hilarious. We met and loved him at the height of his happiness and joy, and it’s unimaginable to imagine a world without our Leslie: the man who spat on his contact lenses before putting them in his eyes, the man, the one had story about every man in Hollywood and some of the women, the man who lived to make people laugh to grieve and celebrate the many gifts Leslie has given us and the world and we value privacy in this time.”
Phil, Jordan’s character on the Fox show, which stars Swoozie Kurtz, Kyla Pratt, Julian Gant and Cheyenne Jackson, appeared in his final episode in December. In the following episode, which aired January 5, it was revealed that Phil had found love and moved to Tahiti.
The story goes on
Producer Jim Patterson told Deadline in December that “this is how Phil will live on forever and live his best and happiest life.”
Many of Jordan’s celebrity friends, including Eddie Vedder, Maren Morris, Margaret Cho, Jim Parsons and Bialik, are scheduled to appear on Reportin’ for Duty: A Tribute to Leslie Jordan on February 19 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee.
All proceeds benefit the EB Research Partnership, a charity Jordan loves.