Beale was a son of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and a brother of Edith Bouvier Beale whose lives were highlighted in the documentary Beale was born on 16 June 1920 in New York City, New New York Beale grew up at at 3 West End Road in the wealthy Georgica Pond neighborhood in East Hampton on Long Island.
Beale was educated at the Westminster School for Boys in Simsbury, Connecticut. He then attended Columbia University where he studied journalism.
Beale was a first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill. Beale was known as "Phe" to his friends and family. During World World War II, Beale was drafted into the United States Army in 1942 and was sent to Camp Gruber near Braggs, Oklahoma.
He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations, participating in the battles of Saipan and Okinawa.
Beale was employed with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission in Tulsa and Oklahoma City for 30 years. Following his retirement from the commission, Beale consulted on unemployment compensation law.
He delivered speeches to numerous organizations on a variety of subjects and wrote magazine and newspaper articles He later appeared in television commercials for Microwave Communications Incorporated Communications.
Beale was an American Kennel Club-licensed dog judge and toured the United States judging obedience trials.
Beale enjoyed fishing in Galveston, Texas. In 1971, Beale authored "The Maysley Brothers — is that their name?," an article that appeared in The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin. He referred to all these activities as "all that Great Gatsby stuff." Beale wrote that his father refused his mother alimony and that there was a trust fund but that "trying to keep up that white elephant is what ruined lieutenant".
