Who was Little Edie

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A. Edith Bouvier Beale, a reclusive model and singer devoted to her mother, who has just died aged 84. Edith was a cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and, most famously, the resident of Grey Gardens, a rambling, 28-room gothic mansion in the exclusive seaside resort of East Hampton, New York.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� But why so famous

A.� She and her mother were subject of Grey Gardens, a 1976 documentary by Albert and David Maysles that transformed them into brave, grotesque and mysterious cult heroines.

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Q.� Early days

A.� Little Edie - called that to distinguish her from her mother, Big Edie - was born in New York, the daughter of a Wall Street lawyer. She grew up as a legendary beauty in a life of privilege. A model at 17, she claimed to have had movie offers, and marriage proposals from Howard Hughes and J Paul Getty.

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Q.� So what happened

A.� In 1952, Edie's father walked out on her mother - and she moved in to look after her in the huge Long Island house. Big Edie and Little Edie almost never went out, rarely had company and got their groceries delivered. Big Edie spent much of her time in bed, mixing cocktails in a jam jar and shouting at her daughter, while the house and its magnificent gardens fell into decay.

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Q.� How bad

A.� Bad. In 1971, health inspectors found the property strewn with empty catfood cans, newspapers, and cats' muck. It had no running water and violated almost every building code. In 1972, Jackie Onassis - her father 'Black Jack' Bouvier and Big Edie were brother and sister - organised a clean-up, which required 40 gallons of germicide.

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Q.� And the documentary

A.� Grey Gardens, made in 1975, won many awards. Throughout the six weeks of filming, the Maysles brothers wore flea collars on their ankles. Their depiction of the intense relationship between the two women, then 79 and 54, intrigued both audiences and film-makers.

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The film caused strong reactions; many loved it, but others found it too painful. The Beales, however, loved it.

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Q.� What did it show

A.� The dilapidation of the house, for a start. Raccoons often fell through the ceiling on to the film crew. It also showed the friction between mother and daughter. Little Edie blamed her mother for ruining her love life, and talked wistfully about fleeing to New York or Paris. 'You've had enough fun in your life,' her mother replied. Their bizarre fashion sense was also revealed.

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Q.� Fashion

A.� In the opening scenes, Little Edie was clad in a clinging brown turtleneck, a pair of summer slacks pinned round her waist as a makeshift skirt, and what appeared to be a nun's wimple. In another scene, in the attic, she was seen wearing a one-piece bathing suit, high heels and a sweater wrapped around her head into a turban, feeding cat biscuits to a family of raccoons.

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Calvin Klein has said he was influenced by Edie's style and a fashion magazine later featured a spread based on her.

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Q.� What happened to the house

A.� Big Edie died in the late 1970s and her daughter sold the house to Ben Bradlee, The Washington Post executive editor, and moved to Florida. It has now been restored to its former glory and stands in the same street as Steven Spielberg's summer home.

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Steve Cunningham