Iconic 'The Shining' Final Shot Photo Found After 45 Years

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of "The Shining" features one of the most haunting final scenes in cinema: a photograph from the Overlook Hotel's 1921 Fourth of July ball, prominently featuring Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), despite him not being born at the time. This image, created by superimposing Nicholson onto a real historical photograph, had long remained a mystery—until now. The original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph has finally been uncovered, 45 years after the film's release.

Alasdair Spark, a retired academic from the University of Winchester, shared the journey of uncovering this iconic image on Getty's Instagram. He revealed that the photograph was identified as part of a set of three taken by the Topical Press Agency at a St. Valentine's Day Ball on February 14, 1921, at the Empress Rooms in the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington. The image features Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer, and Spark's post included a new scan from the original glass-plate negative along with supporting handwritten documents.

The search for this image involved Spark, New York Times staffer Arick Toller, and dedicated Redditors on a challenging quest. "It was starting to seem impossible, every cross-reference to Casani failed to match. Other likely places that were suggested didn’t match," Spark wrote on Getty. "There were some places we could not find images for and we started to fear that meant the photo might be lost to history, and never be found."

Spark had been informed by on-set photographer Murray Close, who captured the image of Nicholson that was later superimposed over Casani, that the original picture was sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton had acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty took over in 1991, Spark delved into the agency's vast archives. His efforts paid off when they discovered that the image was licensed to Hawk Films, Kubrick’s production company, on October 10, 1978, specifically for use in "The Shining."

Spark concluded, "Joan Smith had said the photo dated from 1923. Stanley Kubrick had said 1921 and he was correct. The photo doesn’t show any of the celebrities I had speculated on — the Trix Sisters for instance — nor the bankers, financiers or presidents others like Rob Ager have imagined there. No devil worshippers either. Nobody was composited into it except Jack Nicholson. It shows a group of ordinary London people on a Monday evening. 'All the best people,' as the manager of the Overlook Hotel said."

This discovery is sure to delight fans of "The Shining." Stephen King's novel, released in 1977, has been adapted into two notable versions: Kubrick's iconic film and Mick Garris' book-accurate 1997 miniseries.