Polly Holliday, Acclaimed Stage Actress and Beloved Flo from ‘Alice,’ Passes Away at 88

NEW YORK — Polly Holliday, the Tony Award-nominated screen and stage actress who popularized the phrase “Kiss my grits!” as the gum-chewing, beehive-sporting waitress in the long-running CBS sitcom “Alice,” has passed away. She was 88.

On Tuesday, at her residence in New York, Holliday died, her theatrical agent Dennis Aspland confirmed. She had been the last surviving lead member of the “Alice” cast; Linda Lavin, who played the show’s titular character, passed away last year.

“Alice” aired from 1976 to 1985, but Holliday’s rising stardom led the network to create a spin-off titled “Flo” in 1980. Unfortunately, it aired for just one year.

During her career, Holliday received four Golden Globe nominations, winning one in 1980 for her role in “Alice,” and garnered four Emmy nominations, three for “Alice” and one for “Flo.”

Regarding her iconic “Kiss my grits!” phrase, Holliday, originally from Alabama, consistently clarified that it was a creation of Hollywood rather than a genuine regional expression. Yet, she felt a connection to her character, Flo.

“She was a Southern woman you see in a lot of places,” she told The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2003. “Not well educated, but very sharp, with a sense of humor and a resolve not to let life get her down.”

Holliday’s career included stints on Broadway – including a Tony nod opposite Kathleen Turner in a 1990 revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – and lots of TV, including playing the blind sister to Betty White’s character in “Golden Girls.” On the big screen, her credits included John Grisham 1995 legal thriller series “The Client” and portraying a protective secretary in “All the President’s Men.”

Her Broadway credits include “All Over Town” in 1974 directed by Dustin Hoffman, “Arsenic and Old Lace” in 1986 with Jean Stapleton and Abe Vigoda, and a revival of “Picnic” with Kyle Chandler in 1994.

Some of her more memorable credits include the wicked Mrs. Deagle in “Gremlins,” Tim Allen’s sassy mother-in-law on “Home Improvement” and off-Broadway in “A Quarrel of Sparrows,” in which The New York Times said she radiated “a refreshingly touching air of willed, cheerful imperturbability.”