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"All Over Town" Polly Holliday Hand Signed Playbill Todd Mueller COA
$ 25.86
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Up for auction"All Over Town" Polly Holliday Hand Signed Playbill.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Auctions and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-4281
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 catchphrase of "Kiss my grits!" remains perhaps the most memorable line associated with the series
Alice
. 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. Before 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]
In New York City, she sang in the Grace Church (Episcopalian) Choral Society in Greenwich Village and ran a chamber music series there called the Willow Ensemble (1995-2008). She is also a registered
Democrat
.
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
. 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, titled
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 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 roles in films include
All the President's Men
,
Moon Over Parador
,
Mrs. Doubtfire
, the 1998 remake of
The Parent Trap
and her role as Mrs. Ruby Deagle in the 1984 hit
Gremlins
, for which she 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 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
.