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

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining is renowned for its haunting final shot: a chilling photograph from the Overlook Hotel’s 1921 Fourth of July ball, prominently featuring Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) despite him not yet being born at the time. The image used in the film was a real photograph altered to include Nicholson, but the original had long been lost to obscurity—until now, 45 years after the film's release.

Retired University of Winchester academic Alasdair Spark shared the journey of uncovering the original 1921 Fourth of July ball photograph on Getty's Instagram. He explained, "Following the earlier identification by facial recognition software of the unknown man in the photograph at the end of The Shining as Santos Casani, a London ballroom dancer, I can reveal that the photo was one of three taken by the Topical Press Agency at a St. Valentine's Day Ball, 14 February 1921, at the Empress Rooms, the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington." The post also featured a new scan from the image's original glass-plate negative, along with supporting handwritten documents.

Spark, along with New York Times staffer Arick Toller and 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 noted 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 further revealed that on-set photographer Murray Close, who captured the image of Nicholson that was superimposed over Casani, had mentioned the photo was sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty later took over in 1991, Spark decided to search through the agency’s vast collection. This 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 Shining. Stephen King's novel, released in 1977, has been adapted twice: Kubrick’s iconic film and Mick Garris’ book-accurate 1997 miniseries.