[citation needed] Aside from a brief period on the Gulf Coast near the town of Point Clear, Flagg spent her childhood in the Birmingham area.

[5] She began co-hosting a locally produced "Morning Show" on WBRC-TV in Birmingham, but when she was denied a raise, she quit her job and decided to move to New York City.

When one of the performers got sick, Flagg went on in her place and caught the attention of Candid Camera creator Allen Funt, who happened to be in the audience that night.

[9] Perhaps her best-known novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was published in 1987 and remained on The New York Times bestseller list for 36 weeks.

The story focuses on Ninny Threadgoode, who recalls her past in the town of Whistle Stop, Alabama, in the 1920s and 1930s, but also shows the struggles of Evelyn Couch in present-day Birmingham.

Fried Green Tomatoes starred Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker and Cicely Tyson.

(1998), Standing in the Rainbow (2002), A Redbird Christmas (2004), Can't Wait to Get to Heaven (2006), I Still Dream About You (2010), The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (2013) and The Whole Town's Talking (2016).

As well as minor roles in various television shows, she appeared as the Amazon Doctor in the 1975 pilot The New Original Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Flagg recorded two comedy albums with various skits that included many parodies of Lady Bird Johnson and Martha Mitchell.

[17] In the mid-1970s, Flagg shared a house in Charlottesville, Virginia, with American writer Rita Mae Brown, whom she met at a party in the Hollywood Hills hosted by Marlo Thomas.