Olive Thomas was a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl who became a movie star before her
mysterious death at age twenty-five
She was born Oliveretta Elaine Duffy on October 20, 1894, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. Olive was the oldest of three children. Sadly her father, steelworker, died in a 1906 accident. Soon after the family moved to McKees Rock where her mother remarried. When she was a teenager she dropped out of school to work in a department store. In April of 1911 she married Bernard Krug Thomas, a teenage clerk. The couple divorced two years later. Then she moved to New York City with her best friend Anna Daly. They lived together in a small unfurnished room on West 48th Street. Olive entered a beauty contest in 1914 and was chosen as “The Most Beautiful Girl” in New York City. She started modeling and was featured on many magazine covers. Producer Flo Ziegfeld saw her and offered her a role in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915. The beautiful brunette quickly became the most popular girl in the show. During her time in the Follies she had a romantic relationship with Flo Ziegfeld, who was married to actress Billie Burke.
Olive with Jack Pickford
Flo even asked Alberta Vargas to paint a nude portrait of Olive for his private collection. When he refused to leave his wife and marry her she ended the affair. She made her film debut in the 1916 serial Beatrice Fairfax. That same year she married actor Jack Pickford, the brother of superstar Mary Pickford. They had a very tumultuous marriage due to Jack’s drinking and womanizing. In 1918 she signed a contract with Selznick Pictures for $2500 a week. Her first film at the studio was the silent comedy Upstairs Downstairs. It was a hit and she established her as a “Baby Vamp”. Olive appeared in many successful films including Love’s Prisoner, Out Yonder, and The Flapper. She began an affair with producer Myron Selznick but she ended because she wanted to make her marriage work. Jack took her on second honeymoon trip to Europe in August of 1920. The couple spent the evening of September 5 partying in Paris. It was rumored that they went to a cocaine fueled orgy. When they finally returned to their hotel room at 3AM they were both drunk and exhausted.
Olive’s nude portrait
A short time later Olive went in to her bathroom and swallowed a bottle of mercury bi-chloride. It was a drug that had been prescribed to treat Jack’s syphilis. She screamed out in pain and was taken to a nearby hospital. Four days later on September 10, 1920 she tragically died from poisoning. Olive was just twenty-five years old. Her death was ruled an accident and it is believed that she simply grabbed the wrong bottle from the cabinet. However there were rumors she committed suicide after a fight with Jack. Some people even thought she was murdered by Jack to collect her insurance money. Jack said “Olive and I were the greatest pals on Earth. Her death is a ghastly mistake.” She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Ten days after she died her grief stricken best friend Anna Daly committed suicide. Olive’s final film Everybody’s Sweetheart was released in October of 1920. Since her death people have claimed they have seen her ghost in New Amsterdam Theatre where she began her career as a Ziegfeld girl.