If Leslie Jordan did not exist, John Waters would have invented him. The 4'11" actor, with a Southern drawl like Huckleberry Hound's gay brother, will be part of the all-star cast of Help is on the Way for the Holidays on Sunday night at the Herbst Theatre.
Back home in LA, the diminutive thespian defies all traditional casting types, so Hollywood writers simply create roles for him. On Will & Grace, he plays Karen Walker's arch-enemy, the barely closeted Beverley Leslie. On Boston Legal, he's the mousy Bernard Ferrion, who conked his aged mother to death with a frying pan, only to suffer the same fate at the hands of Betty White.
"You finally get a wonderful gig with the best writer in town [David E. Kelley], and then they whack you," he says. Jordan explains that White, who's still going strong at 84, was at first concerned about hurting him when they filmed the scene. "It was a rubber frying pan, and there was a rubber mat on the floor, but she walloped me so hard I splattered across the mat!"
Although his character died, this may not be the end of his Boston Legal gig. "They told me I'm in the freezer, so who knows, I may come back. David Kelley is really and truly the most brilliant writer I've ever worked with, and I've never laid eyes on him," says Jordan.
"David lives up North with his beautiful wife Michelle Pfeiffer, but when the script comes, it's in your vocal pattern. The script supervisor on a David Kelley show is very strict [Jordan also appeared on Boston Public], but being a writer myself, I'm very reverent of the words."
With film credits that include Sissy Frenchfry, Farm Sluts and Frankenstein General Hospital, Jordan's resume will never be mistaken for that of Sir Ian McKellen. His film oeuvre does beg the question of if he's ever said, "No, that role's just not dignified enough for me."
"Never," he says. "On my last Will & Grace, they had me wearing stretch Wranglers with a rhinestone cowgirl shirt and a 10-gallon hat like Deputy Dawg. Megan Mullally said to me, 'Is this the lowest you've gone?' and I said, 'Oh honey, no.'
"Now that I've got a little money, I'll turn down some TV, but you never know with film. I do a lot of AFI student films. I played Ed Asner's gay lover in one of them. Ed said you should always do AFI films because you never know who's going to be the next Spielberg."
On the street, Jordan is often recognized for his roles on W&G and Boston Legal, but his most ardent fans revere him for his role as Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram (who thinks he's Tammy Wynette) in the gay cult film Sordid Lives.
"If they know that film, they are rabid!" he exclaims. "When I go to Palm Springs, you'd think I was Madonna!"
Jordan capitalizes on his Sordid fame by touring with his one-man show Like a Dog on Linoleum, which will play at San Francisco's Lorraine Hansberry Theatre this coming June and July, helmed by Help is on the Way director David Galligan.
In the meantime, he's booked to appear in LA stage revivals of Southern Baptist Sissies in repertory with Sordid Lives, which was just sold as a series to MTV's gay Logo channel.
The busy actor also lent his distinctive drawl to the voice of the legless hairdresser Mr. Beauregarde on the Fox cartoon American Dad .
Jordan attributes part of his current success to timing. "It's a great time to be gay," he says. "We're on the cusp of the greatest civil rights movement since the 1960s. And in entertainment? I'm a 50-year-old queen, and all of a sudden they want me for everything!"
Â
Holiday cheer
Help is on the Way for the Holidays benefits the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation, Sun., Dec. 4, at the Herbst Theatre, San Francisco.
Silent Auction: 5:30-7:15 p.m., Show: 7:30 p.m. Tickets ($45, $65, Champagne/dessert reception with the cast: $100 and up): call (415) 392-4400 or go to www.cityboxoffice.com.
More info at www.richmondermet.org.