Wilbert Anthony Gordon Jr.
(September 2, 1954 – February 22, 2018), better known as Billi Gordon, was an American author, television writer,
neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial ...
, actor and model,
[Seaver, Linda. ''The Secret of Her Excess'' '']Oakland Tribune
The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group.
Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...
'' (8-13-87)
Life and career
Gordon was born in 1954 in
Dowagiac, Michigan
Dowagiac ( ) is a city in Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,879 at the 2010 census. It is part of the South Bend–Mishawaka, IN-MI, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Dowagiac is situated at the corner of four townsh ...
. He graduated from Dowagiac Union High School. After high school, in 1972, Gordon entered the Roman Catholic Crosier Seminary in
Onamia, Minnesota, but left during his freshman year to attend the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. In his junior year, he withdrew from the university and moved to Los Angeles.
In L.A. he worked as an escort for an exclusive agency until 1982
when he became an
alternative model and appeared on more greeting cards than any other model in the world,
At the height of his career, he was paid $12,000 an hour; after which he began writing and performing as a woman.
Gordon is the author of three works of non-fiction: ''Billi Gordon's You've Had Worse Things in Your Mouth Cookbook'', which the ''
Saturday Review'' described as "the humor classic of 1985"; ''Eat This Book: The Last Diet Book'', and ''Your Moon Is in Aquarius but Your Head Is in Uranus'', published by West Graphics.
Gordon was a television and film actor who portrayed male and female characters, including a role in the film ''
Coming to America
''Coming to America'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed by John Landis and based on a story originally created by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the lead role. The film also co-stars Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Shari Hea ...
''. He portrayed Belle on
''Married With Children'' and Chu Lin on
''Women in Prison''. As a writer, he wrote an episode of the sitcom ''
227
Year 227 ( CCXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Fulvius (or, less frequently, year 980 '' Ab urbe cond ...
''.
Gordon also wrote and starred in the television pilot ''Next of Kin'' for Westway/Odessa.
In the mid-1990s Gordon returned to the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
and finished his degree in 1997. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in neuroscience and did his post-doctoral training in functional
neuroimaging
Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incr ...
and brain research at the
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in h ...
. Gordon investigated the
pathophysiology of stress as antecedent to obesity-related diseases at the UCLA ''Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for the Neurobiology of Stress'' for the Ingestive Behaviors and Obesity Program.
In 2009, Gordon was profiled on the front page of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', in a piece which focused on his dramatic weight changes and how it related to his career and lifestyle. Over the years, his weight has fluctuated between 300 and close to 1,000 pounds. At the time of the story, he had been admitted to the hospital at a weight of 701 pounds.
A follow-up story reported that he had lost 175 pounds over the intervening five months, which allowed him to be able to fit into an
MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...
machine at 526 pounds, allowing doctors to further diagnose a large mass growing on his upper thigh.
He married Robert Lindsay Schallert, on August 6, 1988. They resided in Los Angeles, California. Gordon died on February 22, 2018 at the age of 63.
Wilbert Gordon Obituary
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Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Billi
1954 births
2018 deaths
American LGBT actors
LGBT male actors
American male actors
American male prostitutes
American neuroscientists
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA alumni
Male models from Michigan
People from Dowagiac, Michigan
University of Michigan alumni
African-American Catholics
21st-century LGBT people