Fannie Flagg
Encyclopedia
Patricia Neal known professionally as Fannie Flagg, is an American actress, comedienne and author. She is perhaps best-known for the 1988 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes
; Flagg was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay adaptation.
, is the daughter of Marion Leona (née
LeGore) and William Hurbert Neal, Jr., who was a small-business owner and projectionist.
As her acting career began, Flagg could not professionally use her birthname, as there was already a well-known Oscar-winning actress named Patricia Neal
.
's Candid Camera
, and she later became Funt's co-host on the syndicated 1970s weekly version of the show. After a lull in her writing career, she returned her focus to writing in the 1980s. Among her novels are Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
(originally titled Coming Attractions), Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! (1998) and perhaps her best known book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
. She subsequently wrote the screenplay based on that book which became the film Fried Green Tomatoes
. The 1991 movie garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award
. Fried Green Tomatoes starred Jessica Tandy
, Kathy Bates
, Mary Stuart Masterson
, Mary Louise Parker, and Cicely Tyson
.
She has also written "Coming Attractions" (1983) (Later re-released in 1992 as "Daisy Fay And The Miracle Man"), "Welcome To The World, Baby Girl!" (1998), Standing in the Rainbow (2002), A Redbird Christmas, (2004), and Can't Wait to Get to Heaven (2006). Her most recent book, I Still Dream About You: A Novel was published on November 9, 2010 by Random House.
panels. She is best known for her appearances on the game show Match Game
(normally occupying the lower right-hand seat next to regular panelist Richard Dawson). Her acting credits include the Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
, the films Some of My Best Friends Are...
, Five Easy Pieces
, Stay Hungry
, Grease
and Crazy in Alabama, as well as minor roles in various television shows. In 1975 she appeared as the Amazon Doctor in the pilot
for The New Adventures of Wonder Woman
. She is also known for being a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show
, where for two seasons she played Mike Preston, sister to Van Dyke's character Dick Preston, and for her role as Cassie Bowman in all 30 episodes of the 1980-81 sitcom version of Harper Valley PTA, starring Barbara Eden.
She also appeared several times as a victim of alien abduction called Silvia Miller on the talk show parody Fernwood 2night during 1977.
During the 1960s and '70s, Flagg recorded two comedy albums with various skits that included many parodies of Lady Bird Johnson
and Martha Mitchell. Also during the 1960s Fannie Flagg hosted a morning show on WBRC
-TV in Birmingham, and occasionally reported the weather in the 1970s on the same station.
Flagg was at one time the partner of author Rita Mae Brown
.
Flagg divides her time between homes in California and Alabama.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg. It was adapted into the film Fried Green Tomatoes, which was released in 1991.-Plot:...
, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes (film)
Fried Green Tomatoes is a 1991 comedy-drama film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It was released in the UK under the novel's full title. Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, it stars Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy,...
; Flagg was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay adaptation.
Early life
Flagg, born in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, is the daughter of Marion Leona (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
LeGore) and William Hurbert Neal, Jr., who was a small-business owner and projectionist.
As her acting career began, Flagg could not professionally use her birthname, as there was already a well-known Oscar-winning actress named Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
.
Writing career
During the 1960s, Flagg co-hosted the locally produced "Morning Show" on WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama. Following this, she was hired as a staff writer for Allen FuntAllen Funt
Allen Funt was an American television producer, director and writer, television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials...
's Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
, and she later became Funt's co-host on the syndicated 1970s weekly version of the show. After a lull in her writing career, she returned her focus to writing in the 1980s. Among her novels are Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man is a 1981 novel by best-selling author Fannie Flagg. It was originally published under the title "Coming Attractions"...
(originally titled Coming Attractions), Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! (1998) and perhaps her best known book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg. It was adapted into the film Fried Green Tomatoes, which was released in 1991.-Plot:...
. She subsequently wrote the screenplay based on that book which became the film Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes (film)
Fried Green Tomatoes is a 1991 comedy-drama film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It was released in the UK under the novel's full title. Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, it stars Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy,...
. The 1991 movie garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
. Fried Green Tomatoes starred Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
, Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
, Mary Stuart Masterson
Mary Stuart Masterson
Mary Stuart Masterson is an American film, stage and television actress and director.-Early life:Masterson was born in New York City to writer/director Peter Masterson and actress Carlin Glynn. She has two siblings: Peter Masterson Jr., and Alexandra Masterson, who are both involved in the...
, Mary Louise Parker, and Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for her Oscar-nominated role in the film Sounder and the television movies The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots....
.
She has also written "Coming Attractions" (1983) (Later re-released in 1992 as "Daisy Fay And The Miracle Man"), "Welcome To The World, Baby Girl!" (1998), Standing in the Rainbow (2002), A Redbird Christmas, (2004), and Can't Wait to Get to Heaven (2006). Her most recent book, I Still Dream About You: A Novel was published on November 9, 2010 by Random House.
Acting career
During the 1970s, Flagg was a fixture on game showGame show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
panels. She is best known for her appearances on the game show Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
(normally occupying the lower right-hand seat next to regular panelist Richard Dawson). Her acting credits include the Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
, the films Some of My Best Friends Are...
Some of My Best Friends Are...
Some of My Best Friends Are... is a 1971 drama film written and directed by Mervyn Nelson.-Plot:On Christmas Eve 1971 in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, a group of gay men and women meet at the Blue Jay Bar to talk about their lives and relationships....
, Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
, Stay Hungry
Stay Hungry (film)
Stay Hungry is a 1976 dramatic comedy film by director Bob Rafelson from a screenplay by Charles Gaines . The story centers on a young Birmingham, Alabama, scion, played by Jeff Bridges, who gets involved in a shady real-estate deal. In order to close the deal, he needs to buy a gym building to...
, Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
and Crazy in Alabama, as well as minor roles in various television shows. In 1975 she appeared as the Amazon Doctor in the pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
for The New Adventures of Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
. She is also known for being a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show
The New Dick Van Dyke Show
The New Dick Van Dyke Show is an American sitcom starring Dick Van Dyke that aired on CBS from 1971 to 1974. This was Van Dyke's first return to series television since The Dick Van Dyke Show.-Production:...
, where for two seasons she played Mike Preston, sister to Van Dyke's character Dick Preston, and for her role as Cassie Bowman in all 30 episodes of the 1980-81 sitcom version of Harper Valley PTA, starring Barbara Eden.
She also appeared several times as a victim of alien abduction called Silvia Miller on the talk show parody Fernwood 2night during 1977.
During the 1960s and '70s, Flagg recorded two comedy albums with various skits that included many parodies of Lady Bird Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and made that...
and Martha Mitchell. Also during the 1960s Fannie Flagg hosted a morning show on WBRC
WBRC
WBRC, virtual channel 6, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Birmingham, Alabama designated market area. The station is owned by Raycom Media, and its transmitter is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham...
-TV in Birmingham, and occasionally reported the weather in the 1970s on the same station.
Personal life
Flagg has spoken publicly about being dyslexic. Flagg has said she was enormously challenged as a writer because she "was severely dyslexic and couldn't spell, still can't spell. So I was discouraged from writing and embarrassed". Her burgeoning writing career was put on hold for much of the 1970s, but Flagg overcame her fear and completed several novels and screenplays.Flagg was at one time the partner of author Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
.
Flagg divides her time between homes in California and Alabama.
External links
- Fannie Flagg at NNDBNNDBThe Notable Names Database , produced by Soylent Communications, the same entity that produces Rotten, Daily Rotten, Dr. Sputnik's Society Pages and Penny Postcards, is an online database of biographical details of over 36,000 people of note...