Sadly Olive passed away on October 1, 1947 at the young age of forty-one. She had been forgotten by Hollywood but the tragic
circumstances of her death made news all over the world. Here are some of the obituaries that were written about Olive -
OLIVE BORDEN, FILM QUEEN OF '20's, DIES IN POVERTY
Olive Borden, who rode high in movieland as a $1500-a-week star 20 years ago, died in poverty yesterday. At 40 she had lost the fickle favor of the movie-going public and the studios, her health and wealth gone, but she was not entirely forgotten - her mother was at her deathbed. Death came in the Sunshine mission for women in the heart of Los Angeles' downtown skidrow. Her mother, Mrs. Sybil Borden, is manager of the mission's commissary. Olive, who had lived and worked there since 1945 succumbed to heart and lung ailments. Miss Borden, starting as a Mack Sennett bathing beauty, starred in the '20's with the late Tom Mix and Lew Cody, with John Boles, George O'Brien and others. She reached her peak in 1926 and 1927 starring in 11 pictures in two years at Fox studios. Then came a salary disagreement, occasional pictures, disappearance from the movies. A move to New York after 1932. In 1943 she joined the women's army corps. Returning after army service to Hollywood she drifted from job to job, then to the mission. Her first marriage to Theodore Spector, stock broker was annulled and her second, to John Moeller, ended in divorce. The funeral will be held Saturday in the chapel at the mission.
OLIVE BORDEN DIES, PENNILESS, FORGOTTEN
Staring at a picture of herself taken when she was a flashing-eyed star, silent screen actress Olive Borden died yesterday at a skid row mission five miles from the glittering Hollywood which forgot her long ago. Miss Borden tucked the photograph into a dressing table mirror when she was brought to the mission last week ill, and helpless, penniless, and shabby. The 40-year old actress kept one other remembrance of her movie fame. On a table near her narrow bed was a scrapbook bulging with clippings about the brunette beauty of the 1930's "Half Marriage" and "Love In The Dessert". Both Olive and her mother, Sibbie Borden, knew well the heights of Hollywood after Olive left a Baltimore convent to find overnight fame in "The Eternal Woman". She became a Wampas baby star. She hired a press agent, now radio commentator Jimmy Fiddler, and almost married her leading man, George O'Brien. But the advent of talkies pushed Olive Borden out of the film lights. Her gay, easy-spending life continued. When the money ran out she joined the WAC's and drove an ambulance. Three years ago her mother came to the Sunshine Mission for Women. Olive followed a year later. The mother progressed from scrubbing floors to managing the mission commissary. Olive tried hard too. She made beds, washed dishes. But shortly after she donned old finery to act in the mission's pageant play, Olive disappeared from the big, white mission building into the dark streets of skid row. "I guess the pageant got her thinking about her old acting days" said mission brother Wilfred West. Mrs. Borden, after a frantic three month search found her daughter in a cheap hotel. She brought her back to the mission, but it was too late. The doctor listed the cause of death as "complications".
OLIVE BORDEN, STAR OF SILENT FILMS, 40
Olive Borden, star of silent films, whose weekly earnings from the old William Fox studios in the mid-twenties were $1,500 or more, today died penniless in the Sunshine Mission after a brief siege of pneumonia. She was 40 years old. At her bedside when she died was her mother, Mrs. Sibbie Borden, manager of the commissary department at the mission. Miss Borden entered films in the early 1920s and reached the peak of her career in 1926 and 1927, when she starred in silents for William Fox. She refused to take a salary cut and ended her connection with Fox. Since then she made only a few pictures for other studios. In 1943 Miss Borden joined the Wacs. She was married twice, first to Theodore Spector, stockbroker, the wedding being annulled, and her second to John Moeller, ending in divorce. Olive Borden appeared in The Happy Warrior, My Own Pal, The Monkey Talks, The Secret Studio, Come To My House, Pajamas, Yellow Fingers, Sinners In Love, Half Marriage, Dance Hall, The Social Lion, and Wedding Rings.
OLIVE BORDEN, FORMER FILM STAR, DIES IN POVERTY AT 40
Olive Borden, 40, star of silent films, whose earning from the old William Fox studio at the height of her career were $1,500 weekly and more, yesterday died broke in the Sunshine Mission, 558 S. Wall St. She died of pneumonia after a short illness. At her bedside was her mother, Mrs. Sibbie Borden, manager of the commissary department of the mission. Miss Borden entered films in the 1920's and reached the peak of her career in 1926 and 1927, when she starred in 11 pictures for Fox Studio. At that time she refused to take a salary cut asked of leading players at the studio and ended her connection with it. Since then she made only a few pictures for other studios, retiring from the films in 1938. In 1943 she joined the WACs and after her discharge returned to Hollywood and attempted to ream her film career, but met with little success. She was married twice, her first marriage to Theodore Spector, stock broker, being annulled, and her second, to John Moeller, ending in divorce. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Sunshine Mission Church, with Mrs. Essie Binkley West, pastor and founder, officiating, followed by burial at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park. The mission is paying for the funeral expenses, according to Mrs. West. During the last two years Miss Borden had been a worker at the mission periodically.
OLIVE BORDEN DIES IN WOMEN'S MISSION
In a women's mission in a squalid city area, Olive Borden, 40, once one of the highest paid charmers in motion pictures, died in penury today. The great and near great of the motion picture world with whom she once had associated had forgotten her, and in straitened circumstances and failing health she had lived and worked in the Sunshine Mission for Girls since 1946. At the bedside of the once-beautiful actress when she succumbed to heart and lung ailments was her mother, Mrs. Sybil Borden, who operates the commissary at the mission. She began her film career in the old Hal Roach comedies, and in 1926 was named Wampas baby star of the year. Among her better known films were Three Bad Men, Wedding Rings, Pajamas, Yellow Fingers, The Secret Studio, Gang War, and Love In The Desert. In many of her pictures she shared star billing with the late Tom Mix and Lew Cody. Her funeral will be held Saturday in the mission.
OLIVE BORDEN, EX-STAR, DIES
Olive Borden, who rode high in movie land as a $1,500 a week star almost 20 years ago, died here in poverty Wednesday. Miss Borden started as a Mack Sennett bathing beauty and reached her peak in 1926-1927 when she starred in eleven pictures in two years for Fox studios. She joined the WAC in 1943 and after her Army service she gradually drifted to a mission for women, where she died.
FROM THE OCTOBER 13, 1947 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE -
Died. Olive Borden, 40, briefly famed screen beauty of the '20s; of double pneumonia and complications; in a Los Angeles mission for destitute women, where she had been a haggard, hard-drinking off-&-on guest for three years.
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