Olive Thomas

Born Oliva R. Duffy on October 24, 1894, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, she had a difficult childhood in industrial Pittsburgh. Her father died when she was young, forcing her to leave school and work as a sales clerk. At 16, she married Bernard Krug Thomas, but the marriage was unhappy and ended in divorce after two years. Moving to New York, she worked in a department store until 1914, when she answered a newspaper ad and won the title of "The Most Beautiful Girl in New York City" in a contest run by artist Howard Chandler Christy. That win led to modeling work for Harrison Fisher and a cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

Her beauty caught the attention of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., and she joined the Ziegfeld Follies, becoming a favorite in The Midnight Frolic and many revues. Wealthy admirers pursued her, and rumors swirled that a German ambassador had given her a $10,000 string of pearls. She also sat for famed Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas.

Thomas entered films around 1916, with a small role in Beatrice Fairfax. She made light comedies for Triangle Pictures, such as Madcap Madge, A Girl Like That, Broadway Arizona, and Indiscreet Corinne. In 1918, she signed with Selznick Pictures, where her star grew. She first portrayed a flapper in The Flapper (1920), and her follow-up films, including Youthful Folly and Everybody's Sweetheart, followed that pattern.

Her personal life was turbulent. She married actor Jack Pickford in 1918, though they had claimed to marry two years earlier. Mary Pickford resented her, but Lottie Pickford befriended her. In 1919, they began adoption proceedings for her nephew. In August 1920, they went on a second honeymoon to Paris, hoping to fix their rocky relationship.

On the night of September 9, 1920, after heavy drinking, Thomas mistook mercury bichloride, a bathroom cleaner, for a sleeping potion and drank it. She died the next day, with her husband and brother-in-law Owen Moore at her side. Her death was ruled accidental, though rumors of suicide and murder persisted. She was buried in a small mausoleum marked "Pickford."

The Flapper and Everybody's Sweetheart were released after her death. She is remembered as a silent film star and model whose life ended far too soon.