Fannie Flagg

August 20,2010

Author Research

Fannie Flagg was born on September 21, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama (eNotes). Ms. Flagg’s birth name is Patricia Neal, but would later on go on to change her name to Fannie Flagg because there was already a well-known Oscar winning actor with the name Patricia Neal. Her parents are William, who was a small business owner and a projectionist, and Marion Leona (LeGore) Neal, who passed away when Fannie was a young girl (eNotes). Fannie Flagg would go on to become both a successful actor and a writer.
At the age of five, Fannie Flagg began her acting career (eNotes). She wrote and acted in the three-act comedy that was titled “The Whoopee Girls” (eNotes). By the age of thirteen, she was working on theatre and writing scripts (eNotes). In 1956, Ms. Flagg hit her big break when she sold her material to be used for a revue at “Upstairs at the Downstairs” and the next week she began a ten-year association with the television series “Candid Camera” which was owned by the CBS network (eNotes).
In 1962, she attended the University of Alabama. Fannie Flagg received the Pittsburgh and Pasadena playhouse scholarship, which allowed her to continue her education (eNotes). However, she did not finish her studies at the university and instead of getting a college degree; she went to study acting at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the Town and Gown Theatre (eNotes).
Ms. Flagg has also written, produced and acted in many popular television shows and movies. She is best known for her performance on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1971-1973) where she was casted as a regular (Fantastic Fiction). However, she also acted in The New, Original Wonder Woman (1975), and Love Boat. She starred in the films Five Easy Pieces (1970) and Grease (1978) (Fantastic Fiction). Ms. Fannie Flagg acted on Broadway in the plays Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean (1979) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1980) (Fantastic Fiction).
Fannie Flagg decided that she wanted to write after she went to a writers workshop that featured her favorite author, Eudora Welty (eNotes). At the workshop, she was embarrassed because she did not feel she was educated as the others that were there and she was embarrassed because of her dyslexia (eNotes). To hide from the embarrassment she wrote about a twelve-year-old girl in the short story entitled “Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man” (eNotes). She went on to win the writing contest at the workshop (eNotes).
The novel, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café” is Ms. Flagg’s best known and was eventually made into an award winning movie (About Fannie). Not only did Fannie write the novel but she also wrote the screenplay for the movie that was made in 1991 (About Fannie). The screenplay got her an Academy Award nomination (About Fannie). Other books written by her include, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! , Standing in the Rainbow and A Redbird Christmas (About Fannie).
Ms. Fannie Flagg has been open about two aspects of her life, one being that she is dyslexic and has struggled with it her whole life and another being that she is a lesbian. She was discouraged from writing because she had such a difficult time spelling but she kept with it and eventually went on to write numerous scripts and novels. As for her sexuality, but Ms. Flagg was outed by a friend that she was a lesbian. It is believed that the relationship between Idgie and Ruth Jamison in the book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, was inspired from one of Ms. Flagg’s own relationships.
Fannie Flagg in now sixty-five years old and spends her time between Alabama and California while still writing books.