Billi Gordon

Billi Gordon
Born	Wilbert Anthony Gordon Jr. (1954-09-02)September 2, 1954 Dowagiac, Michigan,US
Died	February 22, 2018(2018-02-22)(aged 63) Los Angeles,California,US
Occupation(s)	Actor, model, neuroscientist
Spouse	Robert Lindsay Schallert

Wilbert Anthony Gordon Jr.(September 2, 1954 – February 22, 2018), better known asBilli Gordon,was an American author, television writer,neuroscientist,actor and model.

Life and career

Gordon was born in 1954 inDowagiac, Michigan.He graduated from Dowagiac Union High School. After high school, in 1972, Gordon entered the Roman Catholic Crosier Seminary inOnamia, Minnesota,but left during his freshman year to attend theUniversity of Michigan at Ann Arbor.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 1982when he became analternative modeland 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 theSaturday Reviewdescribed as "the humor classic of 1985";Eat This Book: The Last Diet Book,andYour 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 filmComing to America.He portrayed Belle onMarried With Childrenand Chu Lin onWomen in Prison.As a writer, he wrote an episode of the sitcom227.Gordon also wrote and starred in the television pilotNext of Kinfor Westway/Odessa.

In the mid-1990s Gordon returned to theUniversity of Michiganand finished his degree in 1997. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in neuroscience and did his post-doctoral training in functionalneuroimagingand brain research at theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.Gordon investigated thepathophysiologyof stress as antecedent to obesity-related diseases at the UCLAGail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for the Neurobiology of Stressfor the Ingestive Behaviors and Obesity Program.

In 2009, Gordon was profiled on the front page of theLos Angeles Times,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 anMRImachine 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.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	The Party Animal	The New Dean
1988	Coming to America	Large Woman

External links

• Official website
• Billi GordononFacebook