Olive Thomas, a prominent starlet from the early days of Hollywood, met a tragic and mysterious end a century ago.
The circumstances surrounding her death remain clouded in uncertainty, with only her influential husband as a witness.
Throughout the investigation, he provided conflicting accounts to the police and the press, leaving us with little certainty about what truly transpired.
What we do know is that Olive, a 25-year-old actress and renowned beauty who embodied the spirit of the Jazz Age flappers, suffered an excruciating death.
Once hailed as the world's biggest s** symbol and often compared to Marilyn Monroe, Olive Thomas has been largely forgotten over time.
However, she was at the pinnacle of her career when tragedy struck.
After a night of heavy drinking in a hotel bathroom at the Paris Ritz, Olive consumed a significant amount of bichloride of mercury, a potent corrosive dissolved in alcohol.
This lethal act burned her vocal cords, blinded her, and caused severe damage to her intestines and kidneys.
Jack Pickford, Olive's husband and a well-known actor and producer in Hollywood, discovered her in distress.
Desperate to save her, he forced her to drink water and induced vomiting before calling for a doctor, who promptly pumped her stomach.
Despite their efforts, Olive's condition continued to deteriorate, and she passed away five days later in the hospital.
Given Jack and his sister Mary Pickford's influence and stature within the film industry, the immediate verdict delivered by the press and French police was one of accidental death.
However, this conclusion raises many questions.
Jack initially claimed that Olive mistakenly ingested his prescribed syphilis medicine, which had been swapped with aspirin by a hotel maid.
However, this explanation strains credulity, as aspirin comes in tablet form while bichloride of mercury is a toxic liquid.
Speculation surfaced in Hollywood that Olive may have taken her own life.
However, this theory seems unlikely, as she was enjoying great success in her career and had written a cheerful note to her mother just hours before her death, expressing her excitement about returning home the following week.
The lies Jack Pickford told throughout the investigation only added to the confusion.
He deceived his family, reporters, and detectives, leaving many aspects of his story without logical explanations.
Jack and Olive had arrived in France for a second honeymoon in August 1920, after keeping their marriage secret for several years.
Known for their hard-partying lifestyle and indulgence in alcohol and drugs, they were no strangers to scandal.
Olive, in particular, embraced her reputation as a good-time girl and often portrayed flapper characters on screen, embodying the liberated spirit of young women in the 1920s.
Olive's early life stood in stark contrast to her glamorous Hollywood persona.
Born Oliva (or Oliveretta) Duffy in 1894 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, she grew up in modest circumstances.
Her father, an Irish steel worker, died in an accident when she was 12, leaving her and her two younger brothers in the care of their grandparents while their mother worked long hours in a local factory.
At the age of 14, Olive began posing n^de for photographs to earn extra money.
By 16, she had married Bernard Krug Thomas, a department store clerk.
However, the marriage was short-lived, as Olive accused him of cruelty and left to stay with a cousin in Harlem.
There, she entered and won a newspaper competition to find the most beautiful girl in New York City, launching her modeling career.
Olive quickly gained popularity among photographers and painters, gracing magazine covers and posing for artistic n^de portraits.
In 1915, at the age of 20, Olive set her sights on becoming a Ziegfeld girl in the risqué Broadway revues known as The Ziegfeld Follies.
Her impact on stage was described as dazzling, with men captivated by her beauty.
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., the producer of the Follies, became infatuated with Olive and made her his mistress.
He also cast her as the star of Midnight Frolic, a more decadent show held on the roof of the New Amsterdam Theatre.
Olive's fame continued to rise, drawing attention from Hollywood director Thomas Ince, who convinced her to pursue a career in films.
She was praised for her vivacious personality and captivating appearance, particularly her enchanting violet-blue eyes.
Meanwhile, Mary Pickford's younger brother, Jack, frequently attended Olive's performances at Midnight Frolic.
Despite Mary's disapproval, Olive and Jack secretly married in 1916.
However, their relationship began to falter as Olive's star ascended while Jack's career floundered.
In May 1920, Olive was cast as a schoolgirl in the film The Flapper, which propelled her to even greater fame.
She and Jack embarked on a trip to France in an attempt to save their marriage, but it quickly turned into a series of lavish spending sprees and wild parties.
