Fannie Flagg
| Fannie Flagg | |
|---|---|
Flagg in 1972
|
|
| Born |
Patricia Neal September 21, 1944 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Occupation | |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Known for | |
| Parent(s) | Marion Leona (née LeGore) and William Hurbert Neal, Jr. |
Fannie Flagg (born Patricia Neal; September 21, 1944) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is best known as a semi-regular panelist on the 1973–82 versions of the game show Match Game and for the 1987 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.
Flagg, born in Birmingham, Alabama, is the daughter of Marion Leona (née LeGore) and William Hurbert Neal, Jr., a small-business owner and projectionist. She grew up in the suburb of Irondale. As her acting career began, Flagg could not use her birth name professionally, as there was already a well-known Oscar-winning actress named Patricia Neal. As a result, she selected the first name "Fannie" at the suggestion of her father, who recalled its being used by vaudeville stars who played on stage in Birmingham, and "Flagg" at the suggestion of a friend who attempted to come up with a surname that would sound memorable when paired with the new first name.
During the 1960s, Flagg co-hosted the locally produced "Morning Show" on WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama. Following this, in 1966, she was hired as a staff writer for Allen Funt's Candid Camera, and later became Funt's co-host on the syndicated 1970s weekly version of the show.
In 1978, Flagg won first place in fiction for a short story that she had written at the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference. The work became the basis for the novel Coming Attractions. In 1980, after the deaths of her parents, she decided to pursue writing full-time. Flagg's first novel, Coming Attractions: A Wonderful Novel, was published in 1981. The book was reissued as Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man - the title Flagg originally wanted to use - in 1992. The autobiographical coming-of-age novel is written as a diary that starts in 1952 with an 11-year-old protagonist, Daisy Fay Harper. Daisy uses diary entries to tell the story of her alcoholic father's get-rich-quick schemes and her well-mannered mother. The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 10 weeks.
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