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

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation of "The Shining" includes one of the most iconic final scenes in horror cinema: a haunting photograph from the Overlook Hotel’s 1921 Fourth of July ball, featuring Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) prominently displayed, despite the fact that he had not yet been born. This image, a real photograph altered to include Nicholson, had faded into obscurity until now—45 years after the film's release.

Retired University of Winchester academic Alasdair Spark shared insights into the journey to find the original image 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. Valentines Day Ball, 14 February 1921, at the Empress Rooms, the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington." The post also featured a new scan from the original glass-plate negative and other supporting documents.

Spark, along with New York Times staffer Arick Toller and numerous dedicated Redditors, embarked on an extensive search to locate the image. He noted, “It was starting to seem impossible, every cross-reference to Casani failed to match. Other likely places that were suggested didn’t match... 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 further detailed that on-set photographer Murray Close, who captured the image of Nicholson that was superimposed over Casani, had informed him that the original photo was sourced from the BBC Hulton Library. Knowing that Hulton had acquired Topical Press in 1958 and that Getty took over in 1991, Spark decided to search through Getty's vast image 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." 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 Kubrick's film, which is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel. The novel has been adapted twice: once by Kubrick in 1980, and again in a book-accurate 1997 miniseries directed by horror maestro Mick Garris.