‘Alice,’ ‘Gremlins’ Actress Polly Holliday Lifeless at 88

Polly Holliday — a veteran actress with roles in among the greatest films of the previous couple of a long time — has died … in line with her longtime agent.

The star handed away Tuesday at her residence in Manhattan, her agent and buddy Dennis Aspland tells TMZ. He additionally instructed us Polly battled well being points for a number of years earlier than dying of suspected pneumonia.

Holliday started her profession on the display screen within the mid-Nineteen Seventies … grabbing components in “All the President’s Men” and “Distance” earlier than she received a lead function on the hit sitcom “Alice.”

Within the present — loosely based mostly on Martin Scorsese‘s 1974 film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” — Holliday performed Flo Castleberry, one of many title character’s coworkers.

Followers will keep in mind her well-known catchphrase “Kiss my grits” … a phrase she would later admit was completely Hollywood-made — with no connection to an actual Southern regionalism.

Holliday appeared on the primary 4 seasons of the present earlier than leaving to steer her personal spin-off, “Flo.” The present survived simply 29 episodes, whereas “Alice” made one other 110 after Holliday left it. Between the 2 exhibits, Holliday was nominated for 4 Primetime Emmy Awards and received the 1980 Finest Actress in a Supporting Position – Tv Collection Golden Globe.

Polly had a variety of different roles in iconic tasks as effectively … together with components within the movies “Gremlins,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “The Parent Trap” and TV exhibits “The Golden Girls” and “Home Improvement.” Her final credit score got here within the 2010 movie “Fair Game” starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.

Holliday was additionally an achieved stage actress … showing quite a few occasions on Broadway and netting a Tony Award nomination in 1990.

Holliday was 88.