39 Facts About Olive Thomas

On September 10,1920, Olive Thomas died in Paris five days after ingesting her husband's syphilis medication, mercury dichloride, that brought on acute nephritis.

Olive Thomas's death is considered one of the first major Hollywood scandals.

Olive Thomas was the eldest of three children born to Rena and James Duffy, both of whom were of Irish descent.

Olive Thomas's father, James Duffy, was a steelworker and died in a work-related accident in 1906.

Olive Thomas got a job selling gingham at Joseph Horne's department store for per week.

Olive Thomas later found work in a Harlem department store.

In 1914, Olive Thomas entered and subsequently won the "Most Beautiful Girl in New York City" contest held by Howard Chandler Christy, a commercial artist.

Olive Thomas was featured on many magazine covers, including that of the Saturday Evening Post.

However, Olive Thomas later disputed this, claiming she "walked right up and asked for the job".

Olive Thomas made her stage debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915 on June 21,1915.

Olive Thomas received expensive gifts from her admirers; it was rumored that German Ambassador Albrecht von Bernstorff had given her a $10,000 string of pearls.

Olive Thomas ended the affair with Ziegfeld after he refused to leave Burke to marry her.

In July 1916, Olive Thomas signed with the International Film Company.

Olive Thomas made her on-screen debut in Episode 10 of Beatrice Fairfax, a film serial.

Olive Thomas hoped for more serious roles, believing that with her husband signed to the same company, she would have more influence.

Olive Thomas followed with roles in Love's Prisoner and Out Yonder, both in 1919.

In 1920's The Flapper, Olive Thomas played a teenage schoolgirl who yearns for excitement beyond her small Florida town.

Olive Thomas was the first actress to portray a lead character who was a flapper, and the film was the first of its kind to portray the flapper lifestyle.

Krug Thomas worked as a clerk at the Pressed Steel Car Company while Olive took care of the home.

In 1913, the couple separated and Olive Thomas moved to New York City to pursue a career as a model.

Olive Thomas was granted a divorce on September 25,1915, on the grounds of desertion and cruelty.

In 1931, Bernard Krug Thomas gave an interview to The Pittsburg Press, detailing his marriage to Olive, implying that a cause of the demise of their marriage was her ambition and a desire to both obtain a life of "luxury" and "improve her station".

In late 1916, Olive Thomas met actor Jack Pickford, brother of one of the most successful silent stars, Mary Pickford, at a beach cafe on the Santa Monica Pier.

Mother thought Jack was too young, and Lottie and I felt that Olive Thomas, being in musical comedy, belonged to an alien world.

Olive Thomas had been deluged with proposals from her own world of the theater as well.

An intoxicated and tired Olive Thomas ingested a mercury bichloride solution, a topical medication that had been prescribed to Pickford to treat sores caused by his chronic syphilis.

Olive Thomas was taken to the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where Pickford and his former brother-in-law Owen Moore remained at her side until she died five days later.

Some papers reported that Olive Thomas had attempted suicide after having a fight with Pickford over his alleged infidelities, while others said she attempted suicide after discovering Pickford had given her syphilis.

Olive Thomas fussed around and wrote a note to her mother.

Olive Thomas cried to me to find out what was in the bottle.

Olive Thomas pumped her stomach three times while I held Olive.

Olive Thomas even was conscious enough the day before she died to ask the nurse to come to America with her until she had fully recovered, having no thought she would die.

Olive Thomas held onto her life as only one case in fifty.

Olive Thomas was conscious, and said she would get better and go home to her mother.

Olive Thomas was kept alive only by hypodermic injections during the last twelve hours.

On September 29,1920, an Episcopal funeral service for Olive Thomas was held at St Olive Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City.

Olive Thomas is interred in a crypt at the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

The press coverage of Olive Thomas's death was one of the first examples of the media sensationalism related to a major Hollywood star.

Olive Thomas's death has been cited as one of the first major Hollywood scandals.