--- name: "Polly Holliday" canonical: "https://film.one/person/polly-holliday" fi1m_id: "polly-holliday" imdb_id: "nm0391072" tmdb_id: 11715 wikidata_id: "Q289743" roles: ["Actor"] born: "2 July 1937" died: "9 September 2025" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 83 average_as: "actor" average_over: 4 updated: "2026-09-23T23:28:09.437345+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Polly Holliday ## Identity Polly Holliday - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/polly-holliday - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** polly-holliday - **IMDb ID:** nm0391072 - **TMDB ID:** 11715 - **Wikidata ID:** Q289743 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Holliday, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q289743, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0391072/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/11715 Actor. Born 2 July 1937 in Jasper, Alabama, USA. Died 9 September 2025. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 2 July 1937, Jasper, Alabama, USA - **Died:** 9 September 2025 - **Active:** 1976–1998 - **Also known as:** Polly Dean Holliday - **Average Fi1m score:** 83, as actor, over 4 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 90 (1), 1980s 84 (2), 1990s 74 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 81 to 72 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 2 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 3, Drama 2, Family 1, Fantasy 1, Horror 1, Mystery 1 - **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $665m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Holliday, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q289743, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0391072/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/11715 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Gremlins*](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md) (80) - **Disney+:** [*Mrs. Doubtfire*](https://film.one/film/mrs-doubtfire.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Polly Holliday > Polly Holliday made sharp-tongued women worth listening to, even when they were being dreadful. We rate her most as a supporting player who could make an unpleasant character funny without making her any nicer. In *Gremlins* (1984), Polly Holliday’s Ruby Deagle gives the creatures some human competition for bad behaviour. We laughed at her ruthlessness because Holliday makes her thoroughly disagreeable without inviting us to hunt for a kinder woman underneath. Joe Dante’s film can leave its humans underwritten, but Deagle remains memorable because her nastiness is such a good fit for its comedy. Holliday does not need to make her likeable to make her worth watching. The sharp tongue had already served her well as Flo Castleberry, the waitress in *Alice* (1976–1980). That breakthrough led to her own short-lived programme, *Flo* (1980–1981), and to the problem of being repeatedly cast as brassy Southern women. She sought other work to avoid being confined to that type, with supporting film parts and a continuing stage career. Big Mama in the 1990 Broadway revival of *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* belongs in that account, as does the earlier role of Dardis’ secretary in *All the President’s Men* (1976). In *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993), she plays Gloria Chaney within a comedy whose principal pleasures belong to Robin Williams and Sally Field. Williams makes the family farce funny and unexpectedly moving; Field makes the separation matter. The performances make the film worth an evening, although its sentiment grows excessive and the running time needs trimming. The limitation in her screen career is how readily those forceful women could become a casting habit. It would be unfair to blame Holliday for that, but it makes the choice of film important: being handed another sharp tongue is not much of an opportunity on its own. Dante puts her nastiness in a comedy where bad behaviour is already the chief source of pleasure. Start with *Gremlins*, if a Christmas horror comedy sounds like your sort of evening. ## Biography Polly Dean Holliday (2 July 1937 – 9 September 2025) was an American actress who worked in theatre, television and film. She was born in Jasper, Alabama, and studied at Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo) and Florida State University. She began her professional career in the early 1960s with regional theatre and moved to New York in 1973. Holliday became widely known for playing the sassy waitress Florence Jean “Flo” Castleberry on the CBS sitcom *Alice* (1976–1980), a role she reprised in the short-lived spin-off *Flo* (1980–1981). She received two Golden Globe Awards for the part. Her film credits include *All the President’s Men* (1976), *Gremlins* (1984), *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993) as Gloria, *The Parent Trap* (1998) and *Fair Game* (2010). She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her stage work. Holliday appeared in recurring television roles on *Home Improvement* and *The Client*, and received a Saturn Award for *Gremlins*. She was inducted into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, encyclopediaofalabama.org.* ## On Fi1m (4) - *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993), Fi1m 74, as Gloria — [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-doubtfire.md) - *The Golden Girls* (1985), Fi1m 88, as Lily — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-golden-girls.md) - *Gremlins* (1984), Fi1m 80, as Ruby Deagle — [page](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md) - *All the President's Men* (1976), Fi1m 90, as Dardis' Secretary — [page](https://film.one/film/all-the-presidents-men.md) ## Complete filmography (35) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Fair Game* (2010), as Diane Plame - *The Heartbreak Kid* (2007), as Beryl - *Stick It* (2006), as Judge Westreich - *It Must Be Love* (2004), as Mama Bell - *The Parent Trap* (1998), as Marva Kulp, Sr. - *A Loss of Innocence* (1996), as Christina Eriksen - *Mr. Wrong* (1996), as Mrs. Alston - *The Client* (1995), series, as Momma Love - *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993), as Gloria — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-doubtfire.md) - *Homicide: Life on the Street* (1993), series, as Mrs. Rath — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/tv/homicide-life-on-the-street.md) - *Home Improvement* (1991), series, as Lillian Patterson - *A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story* (1991), Actor - *Moon Over Parador* (1988), as Midge - *Konrad* (1985), as Berti Bartolotti - *Amazing Stories* (1985), series, as Elma Dinnock - *The Equalizer* (1985), series, as Sister Sara - *The Golden Girls* (1985), series, as Lily — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-golden-girls.md) - *Lots of Luck* (1985), as Lucille - *Gremlins* (1984), as Ruby Deagle — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md) - *The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story* (1983), as Aunt Minerva - *Missing Children: A Mother's Story* (1982), as Mary Gertrude - *American Playhouse* (1982), series, as Mrs. Wooster - *The Shady Hill Kidnapping* (1982), as Mrs. Wooster - *All the Way Home* (1981), as Aunt Hannah - *Flo* (1980), series, Actor - *You Can't Take it With You* (1979), as Miriam Kirby - *The One and Only* (1978), as Mrs. Crawford - *Bernice Bobs Her Hair* (1976), as Mrs. Harvey - *Alice* (1976), series, as Florence Jean Castleberry - *All the President's Men* (1976), as Dardis' Secretary — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/all-the-presidents-men.md) - *Distance* (1975), as Mrs. Herman - *The Catamount Killing* (1975), as Miss Pearson - *The Silence* (1975), as Mrs. Watson - *W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings* (1975), as Mrs. Cozzens - *Wedding Band* (1974), as Annabelle ## Gallery - ![Polly Holliday](https://film.one/media/person/83180/gallery-2c4a67fd0989.jpg) Polly Holliday — CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Polly_Holliday_%22Flo%22_%281980_CBS_press_photo%29.JPG/1280px-Polly_Holliday_%22Flo%22_%281980_CBS_press_photo%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Cast photo of the waitresses at Mel's Diner from the television program Alice. From left: Beth Howland as Vera, Linda Lavin as Alice, and Polly Holliday as Flo. (1976)](https://film.one/media/person/83180/gallery-34c2fdee5b98.jpg) Cast photo of the waitresses at Mel's Diner from the television program Alice. From left: Beth Howland as Vera, Linda Lavin as Alice, and Polly Holliday as Flo. (1976) — CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Waitress_cast_Alice_1976.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Polly Holliday](https://film.one/media/person/83180/gallery-88fb3e130e29.jpg) Polly Holliday — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play 1990: Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (nominated) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/polly-holliday