"Shining's Iconic Final Shot Photo Found After 45 Years"

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of "The Shining" features one of the most iconic and chilling final scenes in genre cinema: a photograph from the Overlook Hotel's 1921 Fourth of July ball prominently featuring Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), despite the character not being born at the time. The image used in the film was a real photograph that had been altered to include Nicholson, and the original had long faded into obscurity—until now. After 45 years since the film's release, the original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph has finally been unearthed.

Retired University of Winchester academic Alasdair Spark shared the journey of discovering the image on Getty's Instagram. He revealed that the photo was one 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 post included a new scan from the image's original glass-plate negative, along with other supporting handwritten documents.

Spark, along with New York Times staffer Arick Toller and numerous dedicated Redditors, embarked on a challenging quest to find the image. "It was starting to seem impossible, every cross-reference to Casani failed to match. Other likely places that were suggested didn’t match," Spark explained via 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."

The historian noted that on-set photographer Murray Close, who captured the image of Nicholson that was superimposed over Santos Casani for the film, had mentioned that the original picture came from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty took over in 1991, Spark decided to sift through the agency’s vast collection of images. This effort led to the discovery that the image was licensed to Hawk Films, Kubrick’s production company, on October 10, 1978, for use in "The Shining."

"Joan Smith had said the photo dated from 1923. Stanley Kubrick had said 1921 and he was correct," Spark concluded. "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 film. Stephen King's novel "The Shining" was released in 1977 and has been adapted into two notable versions: Kubrick's iconic 1980 film and Mick Garris' book-accurate 1997 miniseries.