Remember '70s Star Polly Holliday? Here's What She Looked Like Decades After Alice Fame
The infectious smile and charm that helped Polly Holliday captivate audiences throughout the late '70s and early '80s carried on well into her elder years. The Alabama native's claim to fame came through her award-winning portrayal of the outspoken gum-smacking waitress Florence Jean Castleberry, or "Flo," on the highly popular sitcom "Alice." The performance earned Holliday two Golden Globe awards, an Emmy nomination, and a short-lived spinoff that lasted one season.
While Holliday avoided using Flo's signature "Kiss my grits" line outside of acting, she did understand the character's popularity and fanfare among "Alice" viewers. "She was a Southern woman you see in a lot of places," she told The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2003 (per ABC 7). "Not well educated, but very sharp, with a sense of humor and a resolve not to let life get her down."
Paul Hawthorne/Getty
In her later years, Holliday showcased a more natural and less glammed-up version of herself when not on screen. The look aided her in many of the later roles in her acting career, which included a number of motherly and authority figures, including the quirky camp counselor in the Lindsay Lohan remake of "The Parent Trap." At the time of her passing in 2025 at age 88, Holliday hadn't appeared in any film or TV projects in 15 years and had been the last surviving member of the "Alice" cast, per Deadline.
Polly Holliday rocked gray hair beautifully throughout her career
Following her huge success in television, which saw her coin the Southern catchphrase "Kiss my grits," Polly Holliday turned to film and to her theater roots to avoid being typecast in Flo-esque roles. All the while, Holliday continued to showcase her gray hair. She might've even been able to toy with these five bob styles that perfectly flatter gray hair. The Flo character saw Holliday sport a giant blond wig and waitress uniform, covering up the naturally graying tresses she was hiding underneath. When attending the 1980 Golden Globes, Holliday let her grays shine, as one of the standout times celebs flaunted their gray hair on the red carpet and stole the show.
Up until the time of her passing, Holliday made gray hair her signature, sporting a more platinum gray in her later years than the gradual shine she showcased in the 1980s. Her consistency with offering a more natural look on the red carpet could definitely help combat many of those gray hair myths that aren't worth believing.