Polly Holliday: Not Just Flo

Like her Alice co-star Linda Lavin, Polly Holliday, who passed away yesterday, was best known for her role--and an annoying catch phrase--on the long-running sitcom. She is remembered by most consumers of pop culture as the sassy Southern waitress Flo who would erupt with "Kiss My Grits!" whenever Vic Tayback as Mel, the diner's owner, would give her any lip. But, like Lavin, she was much more than a stock sitcom stereotype. She gave Flo dimension and depth on Alice and the short-lived spin-off series Flo. There was one episode with Forrest Tucker guest starring as her long-absent, estranged father. She registered anger, disappointment, and finally understanding and forgiveness. What few fans realize is that she was an accomplished stage actress (like Lavin). I saw her on Broadway twice (in two classic American plays Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Picnic) playing mothers of the protagonist. She was not just a supporting character, but conveyed her own objectives and convictions. Off-Broadway she was memorable in a revival of The Time of the Cuckoo as a dithery tourist and in two plays by John Guare--Chaucer in Rome and A Few Stout Individuals, playing Julia Grant, the troubled wife of retired president US Grant, in the latter fascinating historical drama. She was heartbreaking as Rose's newly blind sister on The Golden Girls (but was never mentioned again on subsequent episodes.) I also remember her in The Shady Hill Kidnapping on PBS's cherished American Playhouse series. Gone are the days when PBS presented original American dramas by major authors (this one was by John Cheever.) Hopefully, PBS will continue despite Trump's efforts to destroy it.