Olive Thomas

Born: 1894-10-20

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.


Placeholder

The Flapper

as Genevieve 'Ginger' King
Released: 1920-05-10

A Southern teen at a ritzy boarding school gets into mischief while acting the sophisticated...

Movie page

Love's Prisoner

as Nancy, later Lady Clevela
Released: 1919-06-07

A young lady, who "hates the law" rises from the tenements to society. Financial reverses lead...

Movie page

Sigrid Holmquist

as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
Released: 2010-10-08

The story of Swedish silent film actress Sigrid Holmquist's life (1899-1970), by using the...

Movie page

The Glorious Lady

as Ivis Benson
Released: 1919-10-19

During an annual celebration in which English peasants and aristocrats mingle, the Duke of Loame...

Movie page

Everybody's Sweetheart

as Mary
Released: 1920-10-04

When the benign headmistress of the county poor farm is discharged and replaced with a tyrant,...

Movie page

Tom Sawyer

as Choir Member (Uncredited)
Released: 1917-12-10

Silent version of the Twain tale, filmed in Pleasanton, California. A Missouri boy (Jack...

Movie page

Youthful Folly

as Nancy Sherwin
Released: 1920-03-08

Nancy is a restless young girl tired of living on a plantation with her three old-maid aunts....

Movie page

Out Yonder

as Flotsam
Released: 1919-12-21

Flotsam (Thomas) is the daughter and helper of crusty old lighthouse keeper Joe Clark (Edward...

Movie page

Beatrice Fairfax

as Rita Malone (#10 Playball)
Released: 1916-08-07

Beatrice Fairfax, the original advice-to-the-lovelorn reporter and her friend and not-so-secret...

Movie page

Prudence on Broadway

as Prudence
Released: 1919-07-06

Prudence's ( Olive Thomas ) parents send her from their Pennsylvania Quaker colony to a...

Movie page

Darling Mine

as Kitty McCarthy
Released: 1920-08-16

Persuaded by a letter from her Aunt Agnes in America, Kitty McCarthy ( Olive Thomas ) travels...

Movie page

The Follies Girl

as Doll
Released: 1919-04-27

The relatives of dying Edward Woodruff, Nina Leffingwell, her brother Frederic, and her cousin...

Movie page

Madcap Madge

as Madge Flower
Released: 1917-06-24

The social climbing Flower family is comprised of Mr. Flower, a banker who has overextended...

Movie page

Upstairs and Down

as Alice Chesterton
Released: 1919-06-08

Alice Chesterton is described as a "Baby Vamp" by the social set and engaged to boring Tom...

Movie page

Olive Thomas: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2003-09-01

Explores the life and death of one of the first onscreen flappers. By the time she appeared in...

Movie page

Broadway Arizona

as Fritzi Carlyle
Released: 1917-09-30

While on vacation in New York, millionaire cattle rancher John Keyes falls in love with musical...

Movie page

Toton

as Toton/ Yvonne
Released: 1919-03-30

In the Latin Quarter of Paris, American artist David Lane (Norman Kerry) marries his model...

Movie page

Indiscreet Corinne

as Corinne Chilvers
Released: 1917-11-11

Bored with her life as the daughter of wealthy parents, Corinne Chilvers answers an ad in the...

Movie page

An Even Break

as Claire Curtis
Released: 1917-08-05

Claire Curtis, Jimmie Strong and Mary have spent their childhood together in the country. Upon...

Movie page

Limousine Life

as Minnie Wells
Released: 1918-02-03

After leaving her sweetheart Jed Bronson, and small country town life, Minnie Wills (Olive...

Movie page

The Spite Bride

as Tessa Doyle
Released: 1919-09-21

Tessa Doyle, an innocent country girl who has come to New York and joined a vaudeville sister...

Movie page

A Girl Like That

as Fannie Brooks
Released: 1917-01-18

Nell Gordon's father was once a burglar, but he has turned over a new leaf. When he falls ill,...

Movie page

Betty Takes a Hand

as Betty Marshall
Released: 1918-01-06

Discovering that her father, Peter Marshall, had been defrauded by a business partner named...

Movie page

Heiress For a Day

as Helen Thurston
Released: 1918-03-03

Working as a manicurist at the Ritz, Helen Thurston, is in love with her wealthy patron, Jack...

Movie page

Footlights and Shadows

as Gloria Dawn
Released: 1920-02-14

A fortune-hunting follies star Gloria Dawn ( Olive Thomas ), begins to question her engagement...

Movie page