Fannie Flagg

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama on September 21, 1941 and christened Patricia Neal. From the age of six she dreamed of becoming a writer, but the goal seemed unattainable. Patricia spent her school years and much of her adult life as an undiagnosed dyslexic. Words came easy. Getting them on paper was extremely difficult.

During her early teens, Patricia discovered another outlet for that creative energy: acting with her local theater group. Several years later, the seventeen year old decided she needed to differentiate herself from another legendary American actress. That’s when Patricia Neal from Alabama became Fannie Flag.

Fannie’s first job in television was as a morning news anchor. Soon she snagged a job to write and co-host a popular television program called “Candid Camera. Scared to submit her ideas on paper, and reveal her inability to write and spell, Fannie memorized ideas and pitched them vocally to the writing staff. In the late 1970’s Fannie was enjoying a very successful show business career, working in television, movies, and on the stage, but she wasn’t happy with her career choice. The desire to write had never waned. Fannie was in her late thirties when she wrote her first short story at a writer’s conference. She penned it longhand and wrote from the vantage point of an eleven year old girl in an attempt to disguise her misspelled words. It won first prize.

Fannie decided to quit acting and producing to write full-time, dyslexia and all. Today she’s a best-selling novelist whose every work has appeared on the New York Times best-seller’s list. She immortalized one of the South’s most beloved dishes with, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Café”, a hugely popular novel that became the Academy Award nominated film of 1991.

In today’s Southern Quote we hear the witty words of Fannie Flagg who once said, “Remember if people talk behind your back, it only means you’re two steps ahead!”

~Shellie