Trivia

Olive was a distant cousin of the notorious Lizzie Borden.

By 1942, Olive had filed for bankruptcy and was working at Macy's department store. She joined the WAC but was honorably discharged after suffering a severe foot injury.

Olive was engaged to actor George O'Brien in 1929. She was also romantically involved with director Marshall Neilan.

As a struggling actress, she was discovered twice, first by Mack Sennett who made her a bathing beauty and later by producer Paul Bern, who became her boyfriend.

Her mother Sibbie was a conservative Christian who never drank and didn't want Olive to be an actress. Towards the end of her life, Olive claimed she also had "found religion".

Entered films with Mack Sennett, as a Sennett bathing beauty in 1922.

While volunteering as a WAC during World War 2, she received an army citation for bravery in turning over an enemy ammunition truck.

Her first marriage to Theodore Spector was annulled when she discovered he was married to another woman. A few years later, Jane N. Scholtz, the wife of actor Ralph Emerson, accused Borden of having an affair with him.

Olive played the piano and spoke French. She was afraid of the water because she could not swim.

Before she became a star, Olive worked as a telephone operator and opened a candy store with her mother.

A simple funeral was held at the Sunshine Mission for Women, where its founder, Pastor Essie Binkley West, performed last rites, saying, "She played her greatest role when she became a star for Jesus." No one from her glory days in Hollywood was there, but a fairly large crowd came from the surrounding community of Skid Row.

Cousin of actress Natalie Joyce.

One of the thirteen WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1925.

Olive never took off her lucky pansy ring. It was made out of a stickpin that had belonged to her late father. The ring and a scrapbook from her career were the only possessions Olive had when she died.

Olive made headlines in 1935 when she was named as the other woman in actor Ralph Emerson's divorce. She and Emerson costarred in Dance Hall (1929) and had an affair in 1934. When his wife, Jane N. Scholtz, found out, she filed for divorce and told the court that Emerson cheated on her with Borden. The bad publicity hurt Borden's reputation, and she never made another film.