Polly Holliday death: The Iconic Flo from 'Alice' passes away at 88

The Alabama-born actress Polly Holliday has died at the age of 88. Her sassy waitress Flo became a fan favorite on CBS's Alice.

"Kiss my grits!" became her famous catchphrase, and she was a cultural icon. But her career went far beyond being a sitcom star. The sad news was confirmed by her agent and longtime friend Dennis Aspland that she died Tuesday at her home in Manhattan.

Polly Holliday's remarkable journey

She was born in Jasper, Alabama, and grew up in Childersburg. Polly Holliday initailly wanted to be a musician, but then she switched her focus to acting. She worked as a teacher after college and then joined the Asolo Repertory Theater in Florida in the early 1960s. There, she learned how to act by performing works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, and other great actors.


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By 1974, her first show on Broadway was All Over Town, which was directed by Dustin Hoffman. She got her start in movies that same year with Alice Childress's Wedding Band, which was turned into a TV movie, as per a report by The Hollywood Reporter.

In 1976, Holliday became famous for her role as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the TV show Alice, which was based on Martin Scorsese's movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Flo quickly became famous for her sass, her quick wit, and her famous line, "Kiss my grits." She wore a fiery red wig and had a loud Southern charm.

She won Golden Globes for her work in 1979 and 1980 and was nominated for several Emmys. She left the show after four seasons, but played the part again in her own show, Flo, which ran for one season in 1980–81, as per a report by The New York Times.

What were the best parts of her career besides Flo on Alice?

Holliday never let Flo have control over her whole career. In 1990, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Big Mama in Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She was also in a revival of Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton and Picnic by William Inge.

The movies she was in include Gremlins (1984), Mrs. Doubtfire's nosy neighbor (1993), Mr. Wrong (1996), which starred Ellen DeGeneres as her mother, and The Parent Trap (1998), which starred her as a camp director. Through the 2000s, she kept acting in big movies. Her last movie role was in Fair Game (2010), as per a report by The Hollywood Reporter.

What role did TV play in her career?

Besides Alice, Polly Holliday had a lot of roles on TV shows. She played a smart mother-in-law to Tim Allen on Home Improvement, The Golden Girls, and Homicide: Life on the Street. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was in a lot of TV movies and short-term shows that showed her range from comedy to drama.


She said that "kiss my grits" was more of a Hollywood invention than real Southern slang, but people loved the way it made them feel. Holliday often thought that Flo was a typical Southern woman because she was tough, funny, and strong.

FAQs

What was Polly Holliday best known for?
She became famous as Flo in Alice and the spin-off Flo.

Did Polly Holliday work beyond television?
She earned a Tony nomination and appeared in films like Gremlins and Mrs. Doubtfire. She had won Golden Globes twice.