Polly Holliday

Polly Holliday
Born	Polly Dean Holliday (1937-07-02) July 2, 1937 Jasper, Alabama, U.S.
Alma mater	Alabama College, State College for Women Florida State University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1963–2010
Awards	Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame

Polly Dean Holliday (born July 2, 1937) is an American retired actress who appeared on stage, television and in film. She is best known for her portrayal of sassy waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the 1970s sitcom Alice, which she reprised in its short-lived spin-off, Flo. Her character's catchphrase of "Kiss my grits!" remains the most memorable line associated with the series Alice. She is the last surviving member of the show’s main original cast.

Early life

Holliday was born in Jasper, Alabama, the daughter of Ernest Sullivan Holliday, a truck driver, and Velma Mabell Holliday (née Cain). She grew up in Childersburg and Sylacauga, where her brother Doyle's boyhood friend, Jim Nabors, lived.

Holliday attended the Alabama College for Women at Montevallo (now known as the University of Montevallo) in the late 1950s where she excelled in the theater department, playing the lead roles in "The Lady's Not for Burning" and "Medea". She graduated in 1959 with a degree in piano. She went on to Florida State University, and spent the first phase of her career earning respect on the classical stage.

Holliday worked as a piano teacher in her native Alabama, and then in Florida. She began her professional acting career as a member of the Asolo Theatre Company in Sarasota, Florida, where she stayed for 10 years.

Holliday is an Episcopalian who sang in the St. Andrews Episcopal Choir in Mobile, Alabama. In January 2010, she appeared as herself in an official advertising campaign for the Episcopal Church. In New York City, she sang in the Grace Church (Episcopal) Choral Society in Greenwich Village and ran a chamber music series there called the Willow Ensemble (1995–2008).

Career

In 1973, Holliday moved to New York City and appeared in Alice Childress's play Wedding Band at the Public Theater. More than a year later, she was cast in the Broadway hit All Over Town. While working on All Over Town, she befriended the play's director, Dustin Hoffman, who later worked with her on the 1976 movie All the President's Men.

(L-R): Beth Howland as Vera, Linda Lavin as Alice, and Polly Holliday as Flo on Alice (1976)

In 1976, Holliday was cast—in what would be her major break—as sassy, man-hungry waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the American sitcom Alice. Her character coined the popular catchphrase "Kiss my grits!" The phrase became part of the American vernacular. Holliday starred in Alice from 1976 to 1980, and then moved to her own short-lived spin-off show, titled Flo, in which Flo left Arizona and moved back home to Texas. The show was successful during its abbreviated first season, but ratings declined during the following season due to a time change, and it was canceled in 1981.

In 1983, Holliday joined the cast of the CBS-TV sitcom Private Benjamin as a temporary replacement for series regular Eileen Brennan, who was recovering from serious injuries after being struck by a car.

Holliday also made appearances on television shows such as The Golden Girls, where she played Rose Nylund's blind sister Lily, in a recurring role as Jill Taylor's mother on Home Improvement, and a regular character on The Client.

Holliday's notable film roles include appearances in All the President's Men, Moon over Parador, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Parent Trap (1998), and the 1984 hit Gremlins, in which she played Ruby Deagle and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

On the Broadway stage, she has appeared in revivals of Arsenic and Old Lace (1986) as Martha Brewster, one of the dotty, homicidal, sweet old aunties; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1990), for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Big Mama; and Picnic (1994). In 2000, she appeared at Lincoln Center in a revival of Arthur Laurents's The Time of the Cuckoo.

In 2000, she was inducted into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame.

With the death of co-star Linda Lavin in December 2024, Holliday is the last surviving member of the original cast of Alice.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings	Mrs. Cozzens
1975	Pittsville - Ein Safe voll Blut	Miss Pearson
1975	Distance	Mrs. Herman
1976	All the President's Men	Dardis's Secretary
1978	The One and Only	Mrs. Crawford
1984	Gremlins	Ruby Deagle	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1988	Moon Over Parador	Midge
1993	Mrs. Doubtfire	Gloria Chaney
1996	Mr. Wrong	Mrs. Alston
1998	The Parent Trap	Marva Kulp Sr.
2006	Stick It	Judge Westreich
2007	The Heartbreak Kid	Beryl
2010	Fair Game	Diane Plame	Final film role

Television movies

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Wedding Band	Annabelle
1975	The Silence	Mrs. Watson
1976	Bernice Bobs Her Hair	Mrs. Harvey
1979	You Can't Take It with You	Miriam Kirby
1981	All the Way Home	Aunt Hannah
1982	Missing Children: A Mother's Story	Mary Gertrude
1983	The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story	Aunt Minerva
1985	Lots of Luck	Lucille
1985	Konrad	Berti Bartolotti
1991	A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story	Ruth
1996	A Loss of Innocence	Christina Eriksen
2004	It Must Be Love	Mama Bell	aka Surviving Love

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Search for Tomorrow	Prison Inmate Leader	Unknown episodes
1976	NBC Special Treat	Mrs. Cronkite	Episode: "Luke Was There"
1976–80	Alice	Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry	90 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (1979–80) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1978–80)
1980–81	Flo	Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry	29 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
1982	American Playhouse	Mrs. Wooster	Episode: "The Shady Hill Kidnapping"
1982–83	Private Benjamin	Capt. Amanda Allen	3 episodes
1985	Stir Crazy	Captain Betty	Episode: "Pilot"
1986	The Golden Girls	Lily Lindstrom	Episode: "Blind Ambitions"
1986	Amazing Stories	Elma Dinnock	Episode: "The Pumpkin Competition"
1988	The Equalizer	Sister Sara	Episode: "Regrets Only"
1993–99	Home Improvement	Lillian Patterson	5 episodes
1995–96	The Client	Momma Love	21 episodes
1996	Homicide: Life on the Street	Mrs. Rath	Episode: "The Heart of a Saturday Night"

External links

• Polly Holliday at IMDb
• Polly Holliday at the Internet Broadway Database
• Polly Holliday at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Polly Holliday biography, as part of the cast of Alice
• Polly Holliday (Aveleyman)