Olive Thomas - Personal Life

Personal Life

Thomas was always close to her mother, and when Thomas was dying, she expressed her desire to see her mother . Her mother remarried to Harry VanKirk giving Thomas a half sister, Harriet Duffy, born in 1914. She had two brothers: James Duffy (born 1896) and William Duffy (born 1899). She helped James set up an electrical shop while William was in the Marines. Later, William worked as a cameraman. By the time of her death, both brothers were employed with Selznick Productions.

Thomas was known for her partying and wild ways which was also increased after marrying Pickford. Alcohol began playing a large role in Thomas' life (alcoholism ran in the Pickford family), fueling most of the drama with her husband and possibly car crashes as well. She had three automobile accidents in two years, one seriously injuring a 9 year old. She eventually hired a chauffeur.

Thomas met actor Jack Pickford, brother of one of the most powerful silent stars, Mary Pickford, at a beach cafe on the Santa Monica Pier. Pickford was known for his wild partying and together the pair were a lot of trouble. Screenwriter Frances Marion remarked, "...I had seen her often at the Pickford home, for she was engaged to Mary's brother, Jack. Two innocent-looking children, they were the gayest, wildest brats who ever stirred the stardust on Broadway. Both were talented, but they were much more interested in playing the roulette of life than in concentrating on their careers."

Thomas eloped with Pickford on October 25, 1916 in New Jersey. None of their family was present, with only actor Thomas Meighan as their witness. The couple would never have children of their own, and in 1920, they adopted her then six year old nephew when his mother died.

By most accounts, she was the love of Pickford's life, the marriage was stormy and filled with highly charged conflict, followed by lavish making up through the exchange of expensive gifts. In a March 1920 issue of Motion Picture magazine, Thomas said of the drama-fueled relationship, "He's always sending me something and then I send him something back. You see, we have to bridge the distance in some way. At first I just couldn't get used to the idea of living this way, but I suppose one gets used to anything, given time. When we were together we used to use up the time fighting over things. I'd say, 'You were out with this person or that person,' and he'd come back at me in the same way, and we'd have a lively time of it, but we're over that now. We know that we can't sit home by the fireside ALL the time just because we cannot be together."

Pickford's family did not always approve of Thomas though most of the family did attend her funeral. In Mary Pickford's 1955 autobiography Sunshine and Shadow, she wrote, "I regret to say that none of us approved of the marriage at that time. Mother thought Jack was too young, and Lottie and I felt that Olive, being in musical comedy, belonged to an alien world. Ollie had all the rich, eligible men of the social world at her feet. She had been deluged with proposals from her own world of the theater as well. Which was not at all surprising. The beauty of Olive Thomas is legendary. The girl had the loveliest violet-blue eyes I have ever seen. They were fringed with long dark lashes that seemed darker because of the delicate translucent pallor of her skin. I could understand why Florenz Ziegfeld never forgave Jack for taking her away from the Follies. She and Jack were madly in love with one another but I always thought of them as a couple of children playing together..."