Polly Holliday, the spirited actress best known as the gum-smacking waitress Flo, died on Sept. 9, 2025, at her home in Manhattan. She was 88. Her longtime agent and friend Dennis Aspland confirmed her passing to The New York Times; reports say the cause is believed to be pneumonia.
A breakout role that became a cultural touchstone
Holliday rose to national attention in the mid-1970s after landing the role of Florence Jean “Flo” Castleberry on the CBS sitcom Alice. Though she began as a supporting player opposite Linda Lavin’s title character, Holliday’s bold, no-nonsense delivery — and the immortal catchphrase “Kiss my grits!” — quickly turned Flo into the show’s most talked-about presence. Audiences loved the red-headed waitress’s feisty humor and larger-than-life personality, and Holliday earned three Emmy nominations for her work on Alice. CBS also gave Flo her own spinoff series, Flo, which followed the character after she left Mel’s Diner; the program enjoyed a brief run as Holliday continued to move between television and stage projects.
From piano student to repertory company mainstay
Holliday’s path to television fame began in a quieter way. Born on July 2, 1937, in Jasper, Alabama, she studied piano at the Alabama State College for Women (now the University of Montevallo) and spent a year at Florida State University preparing to be a music teacher. She taught elementary school briefly, but theater — which she had sampled in college — proved irresistible. In 1962 she joined the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota and spent nearly a decade honing her craft there before moving to New York.
Her Broadway debut came in 1974 when Dustin Hoffman directed the Murray Schisgal comedy All Over Town, and that stage break led directly to early film work: she won a small part in All the President’s Men (1976), helped in part by the same industry connections that steered her toward television auditions.
A nimble actor on stage and screen
Holliday kept one foot in the theatre throughout her career. In 1990 she earned a Tony nomination for best featured actress for her role in a revival of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opposite Charles Durning. She returned often to dramatic roles even as Hollywood continued to cast her in memorable supporting turns.
On the big screen, audiences remember her wickedly comic death scene in Joe Dante’s Gremlins (for which she won a Saturn Award), and later appearances in family favorites like The Parent Trap and the comedy Mrs. Doubtfire. Her film career extended into the 21st century; her last screen credit was in Doug Liman’s political thriller Fair Game (2010).
Television beyond Flo: steady, varied work
Holliday never limited herself to one type of role. In 1982 she joined the cast of Private Benjamin after Eileen Brennan was injured, playing the gung-ho Major Amanda Lee Allen; she later made guest appearances on popular series including The Golden Girls (as Lily, Rose’s sister), Home Improvement, Homicide: Life on the Streets, and Amazing Stories. She also took on longer television commitments, including a role on The Client. Industry honors followed her into television as well: in addition to multiple Emmy nods, she received recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press, taking home Golden Globes for supporting actress during her time on Alice.
How Flo was born — and what it meant to Holliday
Holliday drew on small, vivid details from her upbringing to shape Flo. She grew up riding in a truck with her father during summer vacations, and those roadside scenes — truck stops, quick jokes from waitresses brushing off ribald comments — informed her performance. Yet Holliday repeatedly insisted she was not simply Flo in real life; she described herself as more private and modest than the character would suggest, someone comfortable with pared-down living and devoted to the work itself. “My work is my life,” she once said, underlining how central acting had become to her identity.
Personal life and legacy
Holliday never married and had no children. Reports say she left no immediate survivors. Colleagues and fans will remember her for the lightning-fast comedic instincts that made Flo a television staple, but also for the deep theatrical roots that sustained a career spanning regional repertory, Broadway, film and network television. She moved easily between drama and comedy, and even when a role made her a household name, she kept returning to the stage where she first learned her craft.
Polly Holliday’s Flo helped shape the comic voice of an era; her work onstage and onscreen proved she was more than a one-note character. She’ll be remembered both for the line that made people laugh — “Kiss my grits!” — and for the decades of work behind it that revealed a versatile, fiercely committed performer.
