Olive Thomas

Acting

Olive Thomas

Overview

Known for
Acting
Gender
Other
Birthday
Oct 20, 1894 (130 years old)
Death date
Sep 10, 1920

Olive Thomas

Known For

Sigrid Holmquist
0h 22m
Movie 2010

Sigrid Holmquist

The story of Swedish silent film actress Sigrid Holmquist's life...

Olive Thomas: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
0h 58m
Movie 2003

Olive Thomas: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Explores the life and death of one of the first...

Biography

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.