Polly Holliday, a character actress who attracted a national following as the brassy Southern waitress Flo on the 1970s sitcom “Alice,” dispatching rude diner customers and her cheapskate boss with the country-fried put-down “Kiss mah grits!,” died Sept. 9 at her home in Manhattan. She was 88.

Her death was confirmed by her friend and manager Dennis Aspland, who did not cite a cause.

Aside from her Dixie roots, the Alabama-born Ms. Holliday had little in common with the hip-swinging, gum-snapping, bleached beehive-sporting, man-crazy Flo. She was, by nearly all accounts, contemplative and erudite, with a gentle lilt in her voice when she was not throwing off sarcastic barbs in character. Once an aspiring concert pianist, she pursued a master’s degree in music education and taught public

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