Olive Thomas (October 20, 1894 – September 10, 1920) was an American silent film actress and model.Thomas began her career as an illustrators' 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 over twenty features over the course of her four year film career. She married actor Jack Pickford, the younger brother of silent film star Mary Pickford, in 1916.On September 10, 1920, Thomas died of acute nephritis in Paris five days after consuming mercury bichloride. Although her death was ruled accidental, news of the incident and Thomas' subsequent death were the subject of media speculation. Thomas' death has been cited as one of the first heavily publicized Hollywood scandals.
The Flapper, Everybody's Sweetheart, Love's Prisoner, The Glorious Lady, Upstairs and Down, A Girl Like That, An Even Break, Youthful Folly, Tom Sawyer, Prudence on Broadway
Star Sign
Libra
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Trademark
1
Playing teenage types, first as a baby vamp and later as a flapper
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Quote
1
Life's too short and fate too funny to get upstage, Today they may be showering us with roses on Broadway and tomorrow some fool director who used to be a waiter may be rejecting us as atmosphere in a five reel five cent feature...
2
I think that you die when your time comes and not until then. I feel the same about other things as I do about death. I don't think you can change anything that is going to happen to you any more than you can change anything that has happened to you. That's why I never worry, and that is why I don't think people should get conceited and think themselves better than others
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Fact
1
Was the first actress to play a 'Flapper' which would become a huge fad in the coming years.
2
Only daughter in a family of three. Her brothers were Michael James (born February 1893) and William L.(born May 1898).
3
Discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. for his "Follies of 1915". He also cast her in the "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolics", which was a racier, after-hours show atop the New Amsterdam Theater for mostly male audiences. She often wore nothing but balloons, which the gents would eagerly burst with their cigars. She also became Ziegfeld's mistress.
4
Her ghost has been said to haunt the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City.
5
Her personal belongings were sold at auction in New York for $26,931. Fellow screen star Mabel Normand bought a 14-karet gold cigarette case for $50, a 20-piece toilet set for $1,425, a diamond pearl brooch and sapphire pin for $500 and a platinum set with star sapphire for $425 (22 November 1920).
Found poisoned in her room after consuming mercury bichloride tablets dissolved in alcohol. The circumstances around this event were mysterious but were officially determined to be accidental. She died five days later in the American Hospital in Neuilly.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Everybody's Sweetheart
1920
Mary
Darling Mine
1920
Kitty McCarthy
The Flapper
1920
Genevieve 'Ginger' King
Youthful Folly
1920
Nancy Sherwin
Footlights and Shadows
1920
Gloria Dawn
Out Yonder
1919
Flotsam
The Glorious Lady
1919
Ivis Benson
The Spite Bride
1919
Tessa Doyle
Prudence on Broadway
1919
Prudence
Love's Prisoner
1919
Nancy, later Lady Cleveland
Upstairs and Down
1919
Alice Chesterton
The Follies Girl
1919
Doll
Toton the Apache
1919
Toton / Yvonne
Heiress for a Day
1918
Helen Thurston
Limousine Life
1918
Minnie Wills
Betty Takes a Hand
1918
Betty Marshall
Tom Sawyer
1917
Choir Member (uncredited)
Indiscreet Corinne
1917
Corinne Chilvers
Broadway Arizona
1917
Fritzi Carlyle
An Even Break
1917
Claire Curtis
Madcap Madge
1917
Madge Flower
A Girl Like That
1917
Fannie Brooks
Beatrice Fairfax Episode 10: Playball
1916
Rita Malone
Beatrice Fairfax
1916
Rita Malone [Ch. 10 Playball]
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Youthful Folly
1920
story
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Screen Snapshots, Series 1, No. 8
1920
Documentary short
Herself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
City Confidential
2007
TV Series documentary
Herself
Olive Thomas: Everybody's Sweetheart
2003
Documentary
Herself
Hollywood
1980
TV Mini-Series documentary
Herself
Known for movies
The Flapper (1920) as Genevieve 'Ginger' King
Love's Prisoner (1919) as Nancy, later Lady Cleveland
$1.6 Million
