Polly Holliday

Polly Dean Holliday (born July 2, 1937) is an American actress who has 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 tagline of "Kiss my grits!" remains perhaps the most memorable line associated with the series Alice.
== Early life ==
Holliday was born in Jasper, Alabama, the daughter of Ernest Sullivan Holliday, a truck driver and Velma Mabell Holliday (née Cain).[1] She grew up in Childersburg and Sylacauga, where her brother Doyle's boyhood friend Jim Nabors lived. Prior to acting, Holliday worked as a piano teacher in her native Alabama, and then in Florida. She began her 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[2] and in January 2010 she appeared as herself in an official advertisement campaign for the Episcopal Church[3].
== Career ==
In 1973, Holliday moved to New York 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 would later work with her on the 1976 movie All the President's Men.
In 1976 Holliday was cast — in what would be her major break — as sassy, man-hungry waitress Flo Castleberry on the American sitcom Alice. Her character coined the popular catchphrase, "Kiss my grits!" The phrase became part of the American vocabulary. Holliday starred in Alice from 1976 to 1980, and then moved to her own short-lived spin-off show, Flo, in which Flo left her residence in Arizona and moved back home. 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 a serious car injury. However, the show was suffering low ratings before Holliday arrived and was soon canceled. As a result, only one of the two episodes she filmed was aired.[citation needed]
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 on The Client.
Holliday's notable roles in films include All the President's Men, Mrs. Doubtfire, the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap and her role as Mrs. Ruby Deagle in the 1984 box office smash Gremlins.
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 for her portrayal of "Big Mama"; and Picnic (1994). She also appeared in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap as the director of Camp Walden. 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.[4]
== Filmography ==
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1974 	Search for Tomorrow 	Prison Inmate Leader 	TV series
1974 	Wedding Band 	Annabelle 	TV movie
1975 	W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings 	Mrs. Cozzens 	
1975 	The Silence 	Mrs. Watson 	TV movie
1975 	The Catamount Killing 	Miss Pearson 	
1975 	Distance 	Mrs. Herman 	
1976 	All the President's Men 	Dardis's Secretary 	
1976 	NBC Special Treat 	Mrs. Cronkite 	Episode: "Luke Was There"
1976 	Bernice Bobs Her Hair 	Mrs. Harvey 	TV movie
1976–1980	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)
1978 	The One and Only 	Mrs. Crawford 	
1979 	You Can't Take It with You 	Miriam Kirby 	TV movie
1980–1981	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
1981 	All the Way Home 	Aunt Hannah 	TV movie
1982 	American Playhouse 	Mrs. Wooster 	Episode: "The Shady Hill Kidnapping"
1982 	Missing Children: A Mother's Story 	Mary Gertrude 	TV movie
1982–1983	Private Benjamin 	Capt. Amanda Allen 	3 episodes
1983 	The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story 	Aunt Minerva 'Min' 	TV movie
1984 	Gremlins 	Ruby Deagle 	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1985 	Lots of Luck 	Lucille 	TV movie
1985 	Stir Crazy 	Captain Betty 	Episode: "Pilot"
1985 	Konrad 	Berti Bartolotti 	TV movie
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"
1988 	Moon Over Parador 	Midge 	
1991 	A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story	Ruth 	TV movie
1993 	Mrs. Doubtfire 	Gloria Chaney 	
1993–1999	Home Improvement 	Lillian Patterson 	5 episodes
1995–1996	The Client 	Momma Love 	21 episodes
1996 	Mr. Wrong 	Mrs. Alston 	
1996 	A Loss of Innocence 	Christina Eriksen 	TV movie
1996 	Homicide: Life on the Street 	Mrs. Rath 	Episode: "The Heart of a Saturday Night"
1998 	The Parent Trap 	Marva Kulp, Sr 	
2004 	It Must Be Love 	Mama Bell 	TV movie (aka Surviving Love)
2006 	Stick It 	Judge Westreich 	
2007 	The Heartbreak Kid 	Beryl 	
2010 	Fair Game 	Diane Plame