Experienced repertory theater actor, a former music teacher who broke into off-Broadway and Broadway work as she neared middle age and soon scored a major success with her scene-stealing wisecracks as Flo on the popular CBS sitcom, "Alice" (1976-85). Tall, lean and angular, the more typically quiet-spoken Holliday, who for years worked at disguising her native Southern accent, was able to flaunt a loud, delightfully harsh Texas twang as the sauciest of a trio of waitresses working at a small diner in Arizona. Fans were surprised to find that the actress who played the flame-haired Flo was actually a highly educated brunette, and rampant imitations of Flo's signature riposte, "Kiss mah grits", guaranteed the phrase a niche in American slang.
Holliday left "Alice" in 1980 to anchor a spinoff series, "Flo", but it only lasted a season. A later sitcom, "Stir Crazy" (1986), quickly fizzled, but Holliday enjoyed about a season as a dignified, tough-as-nails Army officer in "Private Benjamin" (1982-83) when Eileen Brennan's character left the show after the actress was injured. Adept at both warm small-town types and icy, prim professionals, the versatile Holliday has acted in TV-movies including "The Shady Hill Kidnapping" (1982), "A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story" (1991) and a live TV presentation of "All the Way Home" (1981). She has also made a handful of feature appearances, including small roles in "All the President's Men" (1976) and "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993) and a striking, highly enjoyable turn as the evil Mrs. Deagle in "Gremlins" (1984). Holliday's stage work, meanwhile, has included New York revivals of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1990), for which she received a Tony nomination for her Big Mama, and "Picnic" (1994). She returned to series TV as JoBeth Williams' mother in "John Grisham's 'The Client'" (CBS, 1995-96).
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