Biography
Fannie Flagg is an American actress, comedian and author. Born Patricia Neal on 21 September 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama, she adopted her stage name to avoid confusion with another actress. She began writing and performing plays as a child and studied acting at the Pittsburgh Playhouse after winning a scholarship through the Miss Alabama pageant.
Flagg appeared in films including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Stay Hungry (1976) and Grease (1978), and on television series such as Wonder Woman and The Love Boat. She was a frequent panellist on the game show Match Game in the 1970s and 1980s, and performed on Broadway in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Her 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was adapted into the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes, for which she co-wrote the screenplay with Carol Sobieski. The adaptation earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America nomination. She has continued to publish novels after her last acting credit in 1999.
