Grey Gardens (1975)

Directors:

Ellen Hovde
Albert Maysles

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.

Plot Keywords:

Mansion | Hamptons | Cat | Raccoon | Flea

Cast

Edith Bouvier Beale	...	Herself
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale	...	Herself
Brooks Hyers	...	Himself - Gardener
Norman Vincent Peale	...	Himself (voice)

Also Known As:

Grey Gardens (Greece) (festival title) [el]

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

East Hampton, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Portrait Films

Trivia:

Drew Barrymore played Little Edie in the TV movie Grey Gardens (2009) (TV) but, ironically, in the original Grey Gardens (1975), David Maysles asked Little Edie who she would like to portray Big Edie if a movie based on Grey Gardens were made, suggesting Ethel Barrymore (Drew's great-aunt), despite the fact that Ethel Barrymore had been dead since 1959.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: What're you doing down there? You staying there?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ghosts of Grey Gardens (2005)

Soundtrack:

Tea for Two

Grey Gardens was riveting and almost unbelievable!

We stumbled upon the documentary, Grey Gardens, last Sunday and got "sucked in" without warning. Everyone who entered the room became transfixed on the television and the haunting images of Edith and Edie who seemed to be living out their lives in practically one room of a large filthy mansion on the beach, eating ice cream and corn on the cob (which was cooked on the bedside table)--and the cat urinating on edith's bed and her unbelievable words, "i thrive on it [the smell]." We had not seen the beginning and wondered what we were watching and how these aristocratic women managed to get in the position they were in. Spellbinding! a must see!!!!