Parent Trap and 70s sitcom star Polly Holliday dies aged 88

Polly Holliday, the star of Gremlins and Mrs Doubtfire, has died at the age of 88.

The 70s sitcom star’s death was confirmed by Dennis Aspland, her theatrical agent and close friend, to The New York Times.

It was revealed that she died at her home in Manhattan.

Holliday is best known for being a versatile actress, who has starred in a number of hit films and TV shows, including Parent Trap and Konrad.

In the late 1970s she shot to fame as Florence ‘Flo’ Jean Castleberry in Alice, who was a witty waitress with a sharp tongue.

Her signature catchphrase, ‘Kiss my grits’, saw audiences fall in love with her Southern accent.

She reprised this character in its short-lived spin-off, called Flo.

Alice, which debuted on CBS in August 1976, was loosely adapted from Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

The series eventually became a hit on CBS in 1977 and was among primetime´s top 10 series in four of the next five seasons.

In 1983, she joined the cast of the CBS-TV sitcom Private Benjamin as a temporary replacement for series regular Eileen Brennan.

Holliday also went on to make appearances in a number of TV shows, like The Golden Girls where she played Rose Nylund’s blind sister Lily and Jill Taylor’s mother on Home Improvement, as well as The Client.

Her notable film roles came in All the President’s Men, Moon over Parador, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Parent Trap and the 1984 hit Gremlins.

In the same year the Gremlins came out, she went on to win the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the wicked Mrs. Ruby Deagle in the beloved Christmas horror classic.

More to come.

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