Edith Bouvier Beale
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| "Little" Edie Bouvier Beale | |
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Edith Bouvier Beale (November 7, 1917–January 14, 2002) was a first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill.
She is best known as "Little Edie", one of the subjects of the documentary film Grey Gardens by Albert and David Maysles. Arresting in her dress, and entertaining in her speech, Edie has become a cult star. She and her mother, Edith Ewing Bouvier referred to as "Big Edie", were very quotable. Two spreads in Vogue have been dedicated to her unique style.
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[edit] Early life
The only daughter of Phelan Beale Sr, a well-known lawyer, and Edith Ewing Bouvier, she was born at 987 Madison Avenue, now the site of the Carlyle Hotel, New York City. She had two brothers, Phelan Beale, Jr and Bouvier Beale. She attended The Spence School, and graduated from Miss Porter's School in 1935. She had her debut at the Pierre Hotel on New Year's Day, 1936.
While Little Edie was young, her mother pursued a singing career, hiring an accompanist and playing small venues and private parties. In the summer of 1931, Phelan Beale abandoned the family, leaving 35-year-old Big Edie dependent on her family for the care of herself and children. Some time later, he obtained, as Little Edie described it, a "fake Mexican divorce".
In her youth she was a clothes model, primarily in department stores in New York and Palm Beach. She later claimed to have dated J. Paul Getty, and to have once been engaged to Joe Kennedy, Jr.
From 1947 until 1952, she lived in the Barbizon Hotel in New York City, hoping to find fame and possibly a husband. But she only seemed to be interested in men whose zodiac signs were Sagitarius, and according to her horoscope, she could not marry a Sagitarius.
[edit] Later life
On July 29, 1952, Edith returned to live with her mother in the East Hampton estate Grey Gardens (on the corner of Lily Pond Lane and West End Road). The home had been purchased for "Big Edie" in 1923, when it still had one of the finest gardens on the East Coast.
After the 1963 death of caretaker and handyman Tom "Tex" Logan, and a crushing burglary in 1968, the women lived in near isolation and increasing and eventually abject poverty.
Their fame arose out of the Maysles Brother's 1975 direct cinema documentary film Grey Gardens.
After her mother's death in 1977, Little Edie attempted to start a singing career in Manhattan cabarets at age 60.
Unsuccessful, she sold Grey Gardens in 1979 to Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, and moved to Florida. She lived briefly in Montreal in the mid-1990s, and with relatives in Oakland in 1997. She returned to Florida in the fall of 1997, where she remained in quiet isolation, writing poetry and corresponding with friends and fans.
[edit] Death
She was discovered dead in her apartment on January 14, 2002, after a concerned fan could not reach her on the phone. She had been dead about five days from a presumed heart attack at age 84. She was cremated, and a memorial service was held in the local Catholic church in East Hampton.
[edit] Trivia
- Her former home, Grey Gardens, is also the subject of a song by Rufus Wainwright.
- An off-Broadway musical Grey Gardens — A New Musical debuted in March 2006 starring Christine Ebersole, and is now playing on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
- An illustrated biography and motion picture Grey Gardens starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange are under production.
- She was survived by three nephews and one niece.
[edit] Sources
- Letter from Pamela Hancock Beale; The New York Times, January 12, 2003, Section 6; Pg. 6
- "The Debutante's Staying-In Party", The New York Times, December 29, 2002, Section 6; Pg. 31
- Variety, February 22, 2006, Pg. 1
- http://www.obitpage.com/obits/b/beale_edith.html
- http://www.greygardensthemusical.com
