Olive Thomas

Thomas abandoned the stage when signed by Triangle in 1916. She was an almost immediate hit with such films as "Beatrice Fairfax" (1916), "Indiscreet Corinne" and "A Girl Like That" (both 1917), "Betty Takes a Hand" and "The Follies Girl" (both 1918). In 1919, she was signed to a star contract by Selznick, at $2500 a week. She earned her paycheck, though; in 1919 alone Thomas starred in "Upstairs & Down," "The Glorious Lady," "Love's Prisoner," "Prudence on Broadway," "Out Yonder," "Tonton" and "The Spiteful Bride." The following year her films included "Youthful Folly," "Darling Mine," "Footlights and Shadows," "The Flapper" (one of her biggest hits) and "Everybody's Sweetheart."In the summer of 1920, Thomas sailed for Europe with Jack Pickford, her husband since 1917. She died on September 9th in Paris after drinking bichloride of mercury, leaving one of Hollywood's darkest mysteries behind her. Pickford (a notorious drug addict who collected a huge life insurance policy) insisted it had been an accident, while rumors of suicide due to his drug habit or venereal disease ran rampant. Since her death, Thomas' ghost has been reported to haunt the New Amsterdam Theater, former home of "The Ziegfeld Follies."