Beloved character actor Leslie Jordan died of natural causes in an incident where his car crashed into a building in Hollywood, California last October, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office confirmed to The Daily Beast.
The Will and Grace star’s official cause of death was listed in documents seen by The Beast as primarily “sudden cardiac dysfunction”. A “cause B” was listed as “arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease”.
It says his manner of death was “natural.”
There was no drug or alcohol in his system at the time of the crash. At the time, Jordan had reportedly been sober for over 24 years.
Sudden cardiac dysfunction, according to a 2022 paper published in the National Library of Medicine, describes the condition as “death from a cardiovascular cause occurring within one hour of the onset of symptoms.”
It explains how sudden cardiac arrest occurs “when the heart stops beating or doesn’t beat enough to maintain blood flow and life.”
The second, atherosclerosis, is described by Johns Hopkins as a “thickening or hardening of the arteries. It is caused by a buildup of plaque in the inner lining of an artery.”
The coroner also confirmed to the New York Post that two of Jordan’s arteries were significantly blocked – and that the actor recently sought medical attention for heart problems, where he was prescribed medication.
Jordan died on October 24, suffering the medical episode while driving, which caused him to crash. He was reportedly on his way to the set of the sitcom, Call me Kat.
He was pronounced dead on the spot.
