Olive Thomas

Birthday: 1894-10-20
Deathday: 1920-09-10
Birthplace: Charleroi, Pennsylvania, USA
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

Olive Thomas (born Oliva R. Duffy;[1] October 20, 1894 – September 10, 1920) was an American silent-film actress, art model, and photo model.

Thomas began her career as an illustrator's model in 1914, and moved on to the Ziegfeld Follies the following year. During her time as a Ziegfeld girl, she also appeared in the more risqué show The Midnight Frolic. In 1916, she began a successful career in silent films and would appear in more than 20 features over the course of her four-year film career. That year she also married actor Jack Pickford, the younger brother of fellow silent-film star Mary Pickford.

On September 10, 1920, Thomas died in Paris five days after ingesting her husband's syphilis medication, mercury dichloride, that brought on acute nephritis. Although her death was ruled accidental, news of her hospitalization and subsequent death were the subject of speculation in the press. Thomas' death has been cited as one of the early scandals in Hollywood that was heavily publicized.

Credits

Year Title Character
1920-10-04 Everybody's Sweetheart Mary
1920-08-16 Darling Mine Kitty McCarthy
1920-05-10 The Flapper Genevieve 'Ginger' King
1920-03-08 Youthful Folly Nancy Sherwin
1920-02-14 Footlights and Shadows Gloria Dawn
1919-12-21 Out Yonder Flotsam
1919-10-19 The Glorious Lady Ivis Benson
1919-09-21 The Spite Bride Tessa Doyle
1919-07-06 Prudence on Broadway Prudence
1919-06-08 Upstairs and Down Alice Chesterton
1919-06-07 Love's Prisoner Nancy, later Lady Clevela
1919-04-27 The Follies Girl Doll
1919-03-30 Toton Toton/ Yvonne
1918-03-03 Heiress For a Day Helen Thurston
1918-02-03 Limousine Life Minnie Wells
1918-01-06 Betty Takes a Hand Betty Marshall
1917-12-10 Tom Sawyer Choir Member (Uncredited)
1917-11-11 Indiscreet Corinne Corinne Chilvers
1917-09-30 Broadway Arizona Fritzi Carlyle
1917-08-05 An Even Break Claire Curtis
1917-06-24 Madcap Madge Madge Flower
1917-01-18 A Girl Like That Fannie Brooks
1916-08-07 Beatrice Fairfax Rita Malone (#10 Playball)