| Bobbi Jordan | |
| Birth Name: | Bobbi Carol Bartlett |
| Birth Date: | July 11, 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Hardinsburg, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Encinitas, California, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Roberta Carol Jordan Bobbie Jordan |
| Occupation: | Actress |
Roberta Carol "Bobbi" Jordan (née Bartlett; July 11, 1937 – November 9, 2012) was an American actress whose television and film credits included the soap opera General Hospital and the 1974 musical film Mame.[1] [2] Her name is sometimes seen as Bobbie Jordan.[3]
Jordan was born Bobbie Carol Bartlett and was raised in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, the daughter of Dixie (nee Jones) and Elgin Grigsby Bartlett, the manager of a local restaurant.[4] Her parents divorced in 1950, while living in Louisville.[5] She moved from Kentucky to Chicago, and then to Los Angeles, originally to study and pursue opera.[1] Jordan had to take jobs as a waitress in California. A club manager overheard her singing in the kitchen and offered her a role in the club's musical.[1] She was given the lead in the club's Cinderella production, which soon led to a contract with the William Morris talent agency.[1]
Jordan debuted as a series regular in a 1966 ABC television series, The Rounders,[1] [2] in the role of Ada. She also co-starred in the role of Tootsie Woodley in the CBS series Blondie, beginning in 1968.[6]
She later co-starred as Terri Webber Arnett, a singer and former nightclub singer, on General Hospital during the mid-1970s.[1] She remained as a series regular on General Hospital from March 1976 until September 1977. Jordan was also a series regular in the role of Estelle on the short-lived CBS series Joe and Sons, and she played Judy Overmeyer in the 1978–1979 NBC sitcom, Turnabout, written by Steven Bochco.[1] [2]
She appeared in guest roles on The Odd Couple, Charlie's Angels, Adam-12,Diff'rent Strokes, One Day at a Time, Quincy M.E., Nero Wolfe, Highway to Heaven, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Wild Wild West, Love, American Style, and Ironside.[1] [2]
Jordan pursued film roles as well. She was cast as a waitress in the 1967 film A Guide for the Married Man, starring Walter Matthau.[1] She also was featured in Mame, a 1974 musical starring Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur, as an Irish maid who ends up marrying Mame's ward, her nephew Patrick Dennis.[1]
She remained a stage actress throughout her career, including a leading role in the first national tour of the musical comedy Company, by Stephen Sondheim.[1] Her additional credits included South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, and Damn Yankees.
Jordan died of a heart attack at her home in Encinitas, California on November 9, 2012, at the age of 75.[2] She was predeceased by her late husband of 43 years, television writer William "Bill" Jacobson (September 22, 1919 – July 19, 2011), whom she married on October 23, 1968.[7] Jacobson had been the lead writer for The Kate Smith Show in 1960.[1] She was survived by her son, screenwriter Jordan Roberts (born Bruce Robert Jordan on June 19, 1957), two grandchildren, Brandon and Cameron, and her stepdaughter, Jessie Jacobson.[1]