Lois Wright of Grey Gardens Fame Writes New Book

East Hampton television personality, author and artist Lois Wright, who appeared in the films Grey Gardens, The Beales of Grey Gardens and Wild Blue Yonder is working on a new autobiography with Walter Newkirk, author of memoraBEALEia, Letters of Little Edie Beale and The Secret Life of Walter Newkirk.

Titled Lois Wright: My Life Before and After Grey Gardens, the memoir takes readers through Wright’s years before and after her experiences with Edie Bouvier Beale, aka “Little Edie,” and her mother, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, or “Big Edie,” at the fabled and crumbling Grey Gardens estate. That time, and Wright’s visits to the estate, were famously chronicled in Grey Gardens, the 1975 documentary film by Albert and David Maysles, and in Wright’s 1978 book, My Life at Grey Gardens 13 Months and Beyond.

The stories in Lois Wright: My Life Before and After Grey Gardens have not, until now, been published. The book traces Wright’s life from childhood to present, including her career reading palms at Gurney’s in Montauk, and stories about Yoko Ono, Frank Sinatra, John Gotti and Hillary Clinton.

An announcement released on Thursday, January 8, notes that Wright and Newkirk’s latest effort is due in April or May. It also points out that 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of Grey Gardens‘ debut at the 1975 New York Film Festival, making this a perfect year for its release.

In addition to writing books, Wright has been the host and the producer of The Lois Wright Show for more than 30 years on East Hampton public access channel LTV. She also paints works featuring psychic visions and images of Grey Gardens and the Beales, as seen in her November 13 Grey Gardens-themed group show with fellow artists Don Duga, A.F. Wargo and Frank LaTorre at 73 Main in Riverhead. Her brother, William Wright, conducted the only audio interview of Abstract Expressionist legend and Springs resident Jackson Pollock for a 1950 radio show. The taped interview is now part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.