Beale's parents were Maude Frances Sergeant and John Vernou Bouvier Jr., the paternal grandparents of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Her siblings were John Vernou Bouvier III; William Sergeant "Bud" Bouvier, who died from alcoholism; and twin sisters Maude Reppelin Bouvier Davis and Michelle Caroline Bouvier Scott Putman. Beale pursued an amateur singing career and in 1917 married lawyer/financier Phelan Beale in a lavish ceremony at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. The couple lived at 987 Madison Avenue. They had three children: daughter Edith and two sons. In 1923, Phelan Beale purchased the Grey Gardens mansion in the Georgica neighborhood of East Hampton, a block from the Atlantic Ocean. The Beales separated in 1931, with Edith retaining the Grey Gardens house. Edith received child support, but no form of alimony. She continued to pursue her singing career, giving recitals in her home and at local functions. Her sons went to college and World War II duty and had families of their own. In 1946, Phelan Beale notified her of their divorce via telegram from Mexico. In July 1952, Beale's daughter Edith returned after five years in Manhattan to live permanently at Grey Gardens. In October 1971, police raided Grey Gardens and found the 28-room house "full of litter, rife with the odor of cats and in violation of various local ordinances". The Suffolk County, New YorkBoard of Health prepared to evict Beale and "Little Edie" due to the unsafe condition of the property. Following the publicity, Beale's family paid a reported $30,000 to refurbish the property, settle back taxes, and give Beale and "Little Edie" a stipend. The eviction proceedings were dropped. Beale's niece Lee Radziwill hired documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles in 1972 to work on a film about the Bouvier family. At the outset, the brothers filmed Beale and "Little Edie". The original film project was not completed, and Radziwill kept the footage that had been shot of the Beales. The Maysles brothers were fascinated by the strange life the two women led. After raising funds for film and equipment on their own they returned and filmed 70 more hours of footage with Beale and "Little Edie". The resulting film, titled Grey Gardens, is widely considered a masterpiece of the documentary genre. It was later adapted as a 2006 musical of the same name, in which the characters Lee and Jackie Bouvier appear as visiting children in retrospect. An HBO television movie based upon the documentary and surrounding story of the Beales' lives, also called Grey Gardens, appeared in 2009. Beale died of pneumonia at Southampton Hospital in Southampton, New York. Her body is buried in the Bouvier family plot at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in East Hampton. As Beale neared her death, "Little Edie" reportedly asked if she had any final thoughts. Beale replied: "There's nothing more to say. It's all in the film."
