Olive Thomas

Baker premiered her documentary on Olive Thomas' short life titled Olive Thomas: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Thelma Todd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262 Hollywood Blvd. In 2004, with funding from Timeline Films and with the help of Hugh Hefner and his film preservation organization, Sarah J. Her remains were buried in "Bellevue Cemetery" in her hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York and she was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Her death certificate states her cause of death as accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Olive Thomas' funeral service was held at St. The fact that her body was cremated caused theorists to conjecture that this had been done to destroy evidence and to prevent a second autopsy, however by this time authorities were satisfied with her official cause of death.

Jack Pickford brought her body home to the United States and on the return trip, family friend and film director Allan Dwan had to talk him out of committing suicide. The Los Angeles DA's department and a Grand Jury were unable to establish the true circumstances surrounding her death and the conjecture that surrounded it at the time and which has never been resolved with a definitive explanation is an early example of what would become known as a conspiracy theory with rumours and suppositions being accepted as fact, and widely divergent opinions being given credence. A police investigation followed and her death was ruled accidental. Roland West had closed the door to the garage without realising Todd was inside and she had died as a result. She was taken to the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly, where her husband and former in-law Owen Moore stayed by her side until she succumbed to the poison a few days later. A third theory was that Todd had turned on the motor of the car in order to keep warm, and had fallen asleep. Returning to their room in the Hotel Ritz at around 3:00 in the morning, an apparent drunken Olive Pickford accidentally ingested a large dose of mercury biochloride which had been prescribed for her husband's ongoing venereal disease. Her resulting death according to this theory was accidental, however a key, which would have allowed her to escape was found in Todd's handbag.

While doing film preparations mixed with a vacation in Paris, France, she and her husband went out for a night of entertainment at the famous bistros in the Montparnasse Quarter. A second theory widely supported by Todd's friends was that Roland West had grown frustrated by Todd's flightiness and to keep her from leaving her premises to attend another party had locked her in the garage. Florenz Ziegfeld hung the painting in his New Amsterdam Theatre office, much to the chagrin of his wife, actress Billie Burke. The investigation was unable to establish any evidence to support this theory. By 1920, she had become one of the brightest young stars in America and renowned artist Alberto Vargas painted another portrait of her, nude from the waist up. This was the only sign of violence and there was no evidence of any struggle taking place. The following year, gossip columnists such as Louella Parsons were gushing about her career and the name Olive Thomas was emblazoned in electric lights on Broadway while magazines were filled with stories and photos of her soaring career. When Todd's body was found she had blood on her face and her nose was broken.

In 1918, film mogul and master promoter, Myron Selznick signed her for Selznick Pictures Company. One theory suggested that the gangster Lucky Luciano had tried unsuccessfully to coerce Todd into allowing gambling on her premises, and when she declared that would happen "over my dead body" had replied that he could arrange that. Alcohol began playing a larger and larger role in Thomas' life and in a short span crashed her automobile on three occasions. Police were offered other alternatives throughout their investigations. They married in October of 1916, and although Olive was the love of his life, the marriage was a stormy one sometimes filled with highly charged conflict followed by lavish making up through expensive gifts. She had been involved in an argument with her then boyfriend Roland West, but her friends stated that she was in good spirits and were aware of nothing unusual in her life that could suggest a reason for committing suicide. Through her work she met actor Jack Pickford (1896-1933), an alcoholic, drug-using, womanizer who lived extravagantly off the wealth and fame of his sister, Mary Pickford. She had spent the last night of her life at a party hosted by entertainer Stanley Lupino and his daughter, the actress Ida Lupino.

She went on to appear in more than twenty Hollywood films over the next four years. Police investigating her death determined that Todd had a wide circle of friends and associates and a busy social life. Approached by an executive from Triangle Pictures, she was put under contract and in 1916 made her motion picture debut using her married name, Thomas. On the morning of December 16, 1935, she was found dead in her car inside her garage and her death was determined to have been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Before long, the gorgeous Olive Thomas was the center of attention of the in-crowd such as those associated with Conde Nast and she was being pursued by a number of very wealthy and powerful men. In the early 30's she commenced a successful commercial venture when she opened a cafe at Pacific Palisades called "Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe" which attracted a diverse clientele of Hollywood celebrities as well as gangsters and criminals. She then modeled for another famous artist Harrison Fisher and eventually wound up on the cover of "Saturday Evening Post." She was hired by the Ziegfeld Follies and then worked for the much racier revue, the Ziegfeld Frolics," a show staged after hours in the roof garden of the New Amsterdam Theatre for mainly male patrons with plenty of money to bestow on the young and beautiful lady performers. During her career she appeared in more than 130 films and was publicised as "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy".

In 1914 she entered and won "The Most Beautiful Girl in New York City" contest run by the celebrated commercial artist, Howard Chandler Christy. She became highly regarded as a capable film comedienne and also appeared successfully in such dramas as the original 1931 film version of The Maltese Falcon. A beautiful and ambitious girl, she went to stay with an aunt in New York City where she worked in a department store. With the advent of the talkies, Todd was given opportunity to expand her roles by the producer Hal Roach who contracted her to appear with such comedic stars of the day as Harry Langdon, Laurel & Hardy and The Marx Brothers and she appeared as the lead actress in a series of comedy films with actresses Zasu Pitts and Patsy Kelly. At the age of 16, she married Bernard Thomas but the marriage lasted only a short time. During the silent era, she appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. Born Oliva Elaine Duffy into a working class family in a Pittsburgh suburb, her father died when she was young and she had to leave school to help support her mother and siblings. While representing her home state in the "Miss America" pageant later that year she was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout and began her career in film.

Olive Thomas, born October 20, 1894 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, United States – died September 10, 1920 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, was an actress. She intended to become a school teacher but in her late teens began entering beauty pageants winning the title of "Miss Massachusetts" in 1925. Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and as a child was a bright student who achieved good academic results. Thelma Todd (July 29, 1905 - December 16, 1935) was a American film actress.