Polly Holliday, the versatile actress best remembered for bringing sass and charm to Flo on the long-running sitcom Alice, has died at age 88.

Her death was confirmed by Dennis Aspland, her theatrical agent and close friend to The New York Times.

Holliday passed away on Tuesday at her home in Manhattan, less than a year after the death of her former co-star Linda Lavin, who played the series’ title character.

Holliday shot to fame in the late 1970s as Florence Jean ‘Flo’ Castleberry, the witty, gum-snapping waitress with a sharp tongue.

Audiences quickly fell in love with her signature line, the deadpan, ‘Kiss my grits’, delivered in her sweetest Southern drawl whenever someone managed to get under her skin.

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

Polly Holliday, the versatile actress best remembered for bringing sass and charm to Flo on the long-running sitcom Alice, has died at age 88

The series bounced around the CBS schedule during its first two seasons but became a hit leading into All In The Family on Sunday nights in October 1977.

It was among primetime´s top 10 series in four of the next five seasons. Variety magazine listed it among the all-time best workplace comedies.

For her portrayal of Flo, Holliday earned back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in 1979 and 1980, along with multiple Emmy nominations.

Beyond television, she carved out an impressive stage career, most notably starring in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

In 1990, she received a Tony Award nomination, further cementing her versatility as a performer.

Two years later, in an interview with The Tampa Bay Times, Holliday reflected on her deep connection to the theater.

‘An actor is unfortunate if he doesn’t get to spend a lot of time onstage,’ she said. ‘When you’re onstage, you get to practice every night.’

Her talent was recognized early on. At Childersburg High School in Alabama, she was voted ‘most talented’ in her senior class.

She went on to study piano at Alabama College for Women (now the University of Montevallo), where she also participated in several school productions.

After earning her undergraduate degree, Holliday taught music before pursuing graduate studies in music education at Florida State University.

Holliday passed away on Tuesday at her home in Manhattan, less than a year after the death of her former co-star Linda Lavin, who played the series’ title character; seen in 1977

For her portrayal of Flo, Holliday earned back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in 1979 and 1980, along with multiple Emmy nominations (pictured in 1990)

Beyond television, she carved out an impressive stage career, most notably starring in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; seen in 1993

Born in Jasper, Alabama, on July 2, 1937, and raised in the small town of Childersburg, she made her Broadway debut in 1974 in Dustin Hoffman’s production of All Over Town.

She later returned in revivals of Arsenic and Old Lace, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Picnic.

Holliday was a familiar face on television, appearing in The Golden Girls, The Equalizer, Homicide: Life on the Streets and Home Improvement, where she played Tim Allen’s witty mother-in-law.

She also starred in TV movies including Bernice Bobs Her Hair and The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story.

On the big screen she proved equally adaptable, with roles in All the President’s Men (1976), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Moon Over Parador (1988), The Parent Trap (1998) and her final film, Fair Game (2010), as the mother of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Holliday had no immediate survivors.