American writer and actress Fannie Flagg was BOTD in 1944. Born Patricia Neal in Birmingham, Alabama, she began performing from an early age, winning a scholarship to study acting after appearing in the Miss Alabama pageant. She moved to to New York City to pursue her acting career, and became a performer and staff writer on the TV show Candid Camera. She became better known as a regular player in TV sitcom The New Dick van Dyke Show and the game show Match Game, and made brief appearances in the films Five Easy Pieces and Grease. She published her first novel, Coming Attractions, in 1981, before finding international success with 1987’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Café, a love story about two women growing up in Depression-era Alabama. Flagg co-wrote the screenplay for the 1991 film adaptation, earning an Oscar nomination. While commercially successful, the film was criticised for omitting the protagonists’ lesbian relationship. Capitalising on the film’s success, Flagg published The Whistle-Stop Café Cookbook, and reissued her first novel under her originally-preferred title Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, both reaching the New York Times bestseller list. Flagg has published nine further novels, including 2020’s The Wonder Boy of Whistle-Stop, revisiting characters from Fried Green Tomatoes. Openly lesbian since forever, Flagg was in long-term relationships with writer Rita Mae Brown and soap opera actress Susan Flannery. Her current relationship status is unknown.