Polly Holliday

Polly Dean Holliday (July 2, 1937 – September 9, 2025) was an American actress who appeared on stage, television, and in film. She was best known for her portrayal of sassy waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the 1970s sitcom Alice, a role for which she earned two Golden Globe Awards, and would also later reprise for its short-lived spin-off, Flo. Her character's catchphrase of "Kiss my grits!" remains the most memorable line associated with the series Alice. In 1984, Holliday won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Ruby Deagle in Gremlins.

Early life

Polly Dean Holliday was born in Jasper, Alabama, on July 2, 1937, the daughter of Ernest Sullivan Holliday, a truck driver, and Velma Mabell Holliday (née Cain).<ref name = Gates>Template:Cite news</ref> She grew up in Childersburg; her brother Doyle was a boyhood friend of Jim Nabors, who lived in nearby Sylacauga.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name = Gates/> She went on to Florida State University, and spent the first phase of her career earning respect on the classical stage.<ref name = Gates/>

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.<ref name = Gates/>

Career

In 1972, Holliday moved to New York City and appeared in Alice Childress' play Wedding Band at the Public Theater.<ref name = Gates/> More than a year later, she was cast in the Broadway hit All Over Town.<ref name = Gates/> While working on All Over Town, she befriended the play's director, Dustin Hoffman, with whom she later appeared in the 1976 movie All the President's Men.<ref name = Gates/>

File:Waitress cast Alice 1976.JPG

(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 Alice, a sitcom airing on CBS.<ref name = Gates/> Her character coined the popular catchphrase "Kiss my grits!", which became part of American vernacular. Holliday starred in Alice from 1976 to 1980, and then moved to her own short-lived spin-off show Flo, in which Flo moved back home to Texas from Arizona.<ref name = Gates/> 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.<ref name=PM/>

In 1983, Holliday joined the cast of the CBS sitcom Private Benjamin as a temporary replacement for series regular Eileen Brennan, who was recovering from serious injuries after being struck by a car.<ref name=PM>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She made appearances on television shows, including in The Golden Girls as Rose Nylund's blind sister Lily, in a recurring role as Jill Taylor's mother on Home Improvement, and as a regular character on The Client.<ref name = Gates/>

Holliday's film roles include appearances in All the President's Men (1976, as Martin Dardis' secretary), Moon over Parador (1988), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and The Parent Trap (1998). In the 1984 hit Gremlins she played ruthless miser Ruby Deagle, winning the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her final credit was in the 2010 film Fair Game, in which she played Diane Plame, the mother of Valerie Plame.<ref name = Gates/>

On Broadway, she 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 as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Big Mama; and Picnic (1994) as neighbor Flo Owens.<ref name = Gates/> In 2000, she appeared at Lincoln Center in a revival of Arthur Laurents's The Time of the Cuckoo.<ref name = Gates/>

In 2000, she was inducted into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life and death

Holliday was an Episcopalian who sang in the St. Andrews Episcopal Choir in Montevallo, Alabama.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In January 2010, she appeared as herself in an official advertising campaign for the Episcopal Church.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In New York City, she sang in the Episcopal Grace Church Choral Society in Greenwich Village and ran a chamber music series there.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After a decline in her health, Holliday died from an apparent bout of pneumonia at her home in Manhattan, New York City, on September 9, 2025, at the age of 88.<ref name = Gates/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was the last surviving member of the original cast of Alice.<ref name = Gates/> She never married or had children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Barnes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She is buried at Green Hill Memorial Gardens in Childersburg, Alabama, beside her mother.

Filmography

Film

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

Television movies

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

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Search for Tomorrow	Prison Inmate Leader	6 episodes<ref name="TVG" />
1976–1980	Alice	Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry	Main role, 90 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film (1979–1980)<ref name=gga/> Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1978–1980)<ref name="TVG" />
1980–1981	Flo	Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry	Main role, 29 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy<ref name=gga>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series<ref name="TVG" />
1982	American Playhouse	Mrs. Wooster	Episode: "The Shady Hill Kidnapping"<ref name="TVG" />
1982–1983	Private Benjamin	Capt. Amanda Allen	3 episodes<ref name="TVG" />
1985	Stir Crazy	Captain Betty	Episode: "Pilot"<ref name="TVG" />
1986	The Golden Girls	Lily Lindstrom	Episode: "Blind Ambitions"<ref name="TVG" />
	Amazing Stories	Elma Dinnock	Episode: "The Pumpkin Competition"<ref name="TVG" />
1988	The Equalizer	Sister Sara	Episode: "Regrets Only"<ref name="TVG" />
1993–1999	Home Improvement	Lillian Patterson	5 episodes<ref name="TVG" />
1995–1996	The Client	Momma Love	Main role, 21 episodes<ref name="TVG" />
1996	Homicide: Life on the Street	Mrs. Rath	Episode: "The Heart of a Saturday Night"<ref name="TVG" />

External links

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• Template:IOBDB name
• Polly Holliday biography, as part of the cast of Alice
• Polly Holliday—at Aveleyman.com