One of the last known photos of Bob Marley in Germany, receiving holistic treatment for cancer.
Bob Marley developed melanoma on his toe but sought out alternative treatments, rather than listening to his doctor's advice. Though there were many conspiracy theories about his death, not seeking proper treatment is the real cause. Vintage Everyday
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Released after his death, this is the last known photo of David Bowie, taken at the opening of his play Lazarus in 2015. While other photos released around the time show him looking rather healthy, this photograph, taken just a month before he died, shows the effect of cancer on his body. Reddit
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The actual last photograph of John Lennon. While not as widely spread around as another photograph taken that same evening, this was the last taken in a series by friend and photographer Paul Goresh outside the Dakota on Dec. 8, 1980. The flash on the camera failed to go off, resulting in this grainy image. Reddit
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The last known photo of actor Bob Saget taken by a fan outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel where he would die after hitting his head on Jan. 9, 2022.Reddit
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The last picture taken of Audrey Hepburn shortly before her sudden death on Jan. 20, 1993, just three months after she was diagnosed with cancer.Reddit
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The final photograph of artist Andy Warhol, taken on Feb. 20, 1987. Warhol died two days later on February 22nd, due to complications following surgery to remove his gallbladder. Reddit
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The last known photo of actor Marlon Brando in March 2004. Brando succumbed to respiratory failure on July 1, 2004. Reddit
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The last image of director David Lynch, from the award ceremony for his foundation Meditate America.
At the end of the ceremony, Hugh Jackman, who had been the MC, said "and we'll give the last word to David Lynch." The ceremony then cut to a recorded video of Lynch, who ended the ceremony by saying, "Peace."
David Lynch died on Jan. 16, 2025 at the age of 78. Meditate America
Cody effectively created the Wild West as it is known today, thanks to his ability to tell a story and his traveling roadshow where he regaled people with stories of outlaws and lawmen. Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo
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Ernesto "Che" Guevara (right of center) in the last photo taken of him just weeks before he died in 1967.Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo
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The last photos taken of Heath Ledger on the set of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.Jack Ludlam/Alamy Stock Photo
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One of the last photos of actress Sharon Tate and her friend Jay Sebring.
Shortly after, Tate and Sebring would be killed by the Manson Family cult in a particularly brutal fashion. Tate was in a relationship with director Roman Polanski at the time and heavily pregnant. Reddit
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The last known photo of "Careless Whisper" singer George Michael, dining with friends in late 2016. He died on Christmas Day that same year.
Reddit
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Last known photograph of AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott (right) with a friend at KOKO. He died of alcohol poisoning the same night. Feb. 18, 1980.Reddit
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The last photo of Kalakaua, last king of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. Wikimedia Commons
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Last photo of Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet leader whose body remains eerily preserved in Moscow.
Lenin died on Jan. 21, 1924.Wikimedia Commons
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The last photograph of comedian Harry Einstein, also known as Harry Parke, speaking to Milton Berle (right) at a Los Angeles Friars' Club dinner in 1958. Moments later, Parke collapsed onto Berle's shoulder, dead. Wikimedia Commons
The last photograph taken of William McKinley as he ascended the stairs to the Temple of Music on Sept. 6, 1901, a week before his assassination.Wikimedia Commons
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Last known photo of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. Five days later, struggling with epilepsy and a failing marriage, he hanged himself in his kitchen on May 18, 1980.Reddit
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The last photo of actor Paul Walker, moments before his death in a car crash on Nov. 30, 2013.Reddit
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The last photograph of Ronald Reagan before his death in 2004. At the time, he was suffering from Alzheimer's. Reddit
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Alan Rickman seen at his final public appearance taken on Dec. 7, 2015, a month before his death on Jan. 4, 2016 from pancreatic cancer.Reddit
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Chinese leader Mao Zedong during his last public appearance on May 26, 1976.Reddit
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Gene Wilder attending the U.S. Open in 2015, his last public appearance before his 2016 death. Reddit
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Frame 312 of the Zapruder film, the last image of President John F. Kennedy alive. The first shot struck Kennedy in the neck, and he can be seen here in pain before the next, fatal shot. Abraham Zapruder/Fair Use
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The last photograph of adventurer Chris McCandless, the inspiration behind Into the Wild.Chris McCandless
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The last photograph ever taken of Buddy Holly during the Feb. 2, 1959, Winter Dance Party show at the Surf Ballroom. Hours later, the plane Holly was flying in crashed, killing him and the others on board. Mary Gerber
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The last photograph of Carrie Fisher, taken by a fan named Jonny Kennedy, on Dec. 26, 2017, the day before she died of a heart attack on her plane. Jonny Kennedy
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The last photograph of Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park.
The photograph was taken by Bennington's wife, just one day before he hanged himself. Talinda Bennington
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The last photo of rapper Tupac Shakur taken mere moments before he was gunned down by an unknown gunman on Sept. 13, 1996. He was just 25 years old at the time. Leonard Jefferson
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The last known photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. He died on Dec. 17, 2011.Reddit
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This is the final known photograph of Marilyn Monroe, taken during a visit with Frank Sinatra and jazz pianist Buddy Greco the weekend before her death, August 5, 1962. Reddit
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The last photograph of Bob Ross, the painter best known for his public access television show, The Joy of Painting. He died on July 4, 1995 of lymphoma. Reddit
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Biggie Smalls in a photo with disgraced rapper and producer Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, before he was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting death after the Soul Train Music Awards in 1997.Reddit
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The last known photograph of Margot and Anne Frank together. After the family went into hiding, restrictions on photography largely prevented any further pictures of the girls from being taken, especially together. Anne Frank Fonds
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One of the last photographs of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
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The last known photograph of Charlie Chaplin, taken in October 1977 when he was 88 years old. Reddit
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Mark Twain, whose last words (written on a note by his deathbed) read: "Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all — the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved."
Twain died on April 21, 1910.Reddit
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Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler pictured two days before he killed himself on April 30, 1945.
With Germany in ruins and defeat to the Allied forces looming, Hitler married his longtime girlfriend Eva Braun and the couple then committed suicide.Austrian National Library
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Security camera captured Prince as he entered his doctor's office in 2016 to ultimately receive the prescription that killed him. CCTV footage via AP
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The last photograph taken of Michael Jackson during rehearsals for the This Is It concert series. Taken on June 24, 2009, just hours before his death.Reddit
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The last photo of Nikola Tesla, the pioneering inventor. Though he is credited with numerous technological advancements, he lived his final years in poverty and the throes of mental illness before dying on Jan. 7, 1943.
Public Domain
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Though there are numerous blurry photos claiming to be the official final picture taken of President Abraham Lincoln, this is without question the final official portrait taken of the nation’s 16th President.
It was taken on Feb. 5, 1865, a little more than two months before the infamous assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth.Public Domain
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One of the last known photos of Kurt Cobain as he arrived at Seattle's Sea-Tic airport after a previous suicide attempt in Rome. At the time, his management said the overdose was accidental. The Rome incident occurred on March 4, 1994. Kurt Cobain killed himself a month later, on April 8th. Reddit
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January 28, 1986: the crew of the Challenger on their way to board the shuttle.
Tragedy would strike 73 seconds into launch as the O-ring on the shuttle’s right booster failed, leading to the deaths of everyone on board the spacecraft. NASA
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The last photograph taken of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant died on July 23, 1885 of throat cancer.Library of Congress
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Amy Winehouse shown walking near her home in London just over a week before her death on July 23, 2011.
Forensic pathologists determined that Winehouse died from accidental alcohol poisoning after the singer resumed drinking following a period of sobriety.Reddit
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In one of his last public photos, Robin Williams is pictured days before his death with monkey Crystal.
Williams died by suicide on August 11, 2014. It's suggested that he knew he was losing his mind, as a result of his rare brain disease, Lewy body dementia. Robin Williams/Instagram
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Steve Irwin poses with marine biologist Chris Jones on his boat. This photo was taken two days before his death in September 2006, after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb. TMZ
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Jimi Hendrix poses with his guitar.
This photograph was taken by his girlfriend the day before he died. Monika Dannemann
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Elvis Presley shown pulling into Graceland with his girlfriend Ginger Alden on August 16, 1977, upon returning from a dental appointment.
Later that evening, Presley would die from a massive heart attack while sitting on the toilet in his home.Getty Images
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Jim Morrison posing with his longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson five days before Jim’s death in Paris.
This photo was taken by a friend in the small village of Saint-Leud’Esserent.Getty Images
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Freddie Mercury, the frontman for the band Queen, standing outside his home in 1991, shortly before he died of bronchial pneumonia, which resulted from AIDS.YouTube
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James Dean always had a love of speed and living life on the edge. Dean had only owned the Porsche he is pictured with for nine days when he crashed it, dying in the process.Getty Images
Photo Farewells: The Last Known Photographs Of 55 Icons
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The adage goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. But are the last known photographs of famous figures worth even more?
Even if you consider seeking out these kinds of photos to be a morbid pastime, these last-known photos of icons serve as an apt reminder that even the best and brightest of us are not immune to the inevitable — and that even perpetrators of unspeakable crimes will see their end.
See 55 last known photos of some of history's most famous and infamous figures through the gallery above.
The Eerie Final Photographs Of John Lennon Just Before His Murder
Getty ImagesOne of the final photos of John Lennon captures the former Beatles frontman signing an autograph for his soon-to-be killer, Mark David Chapman. Chapman, also pictured, would return to the musician's apartment a few hours later and fatally shoot him as Lennon returned home with his wife Yoko Ono.
While this photograph of John Lennon may not be the very last one taken of him this day, it is certainly better known, and for good reason. Not only does this photograph capture John Lennon on the day of his death — it also captures his killer, Mark David Chapman.
The photo was taken on Dec. 8, 1980, when Lennon was 40 years old. Earlier in the evening, he and his wife Yoko Ono had been at a recording session at the Record Plant in New York City. Around 10:50 p.m., they returned to their home at The Dakota, an upscale apartment building near Central Park.
As they were entering the archway of the building, however, Mark David Chapman, who had been waiting outside for hours, stepped forward and shot Lennon four times in the back and shoulder at close range. Chapman, disturbingly calm, remained at the scene and began reading The Catcher in the Rye while waiting for police to arrive.
He had, of course, also gotten Lennon's autograph earlier that day on a copy of the Lennon-Ono record Double Fantasy.
Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital in a police car, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. Chapman later said that he had killed Lennon to gain notoriety and because, despite being a Beatles fan, he viewed Lennon as a "phony."
Given that Lennon had spent the latter half of his career trying to spread a message of peace through his music, the particularly grim and violent end to his life felt like the end of an era, both musically and culturally.
David Bowie's Secret Battle With Cancer And Sudden Death
InstagramOne of David Bowie's last photos on his Instagram, posted just two days before he died of cancer. Part of the caption reads: "...Why is this man so happy? Is it because it's his 69th birthday or that he has released his 28th studio album today..."
When David Bowie died on Jan. 10, 2016 — just two days after his 69th birthday — it was a shock. He had just released his album Blackstar, but unbeknownst to the general public, he had also been fighting an 18-month battle with liver cancer leading up to this.
Only his closest friends and family members were aware of his illness, and the secrecy surrounding it gave his passing a somewhat surreal and theatrical quality — the end of his life, in a way, imitating his art.
Blackstar, which was released on Jan. 8, 2016, was critically well-received and immediately praised for its haunting, experimental sound. It was also noted for its deeply cryptic lyrics. In hindsight, however, it seemed almost like a parting gift from Bowie: a meditation on mortality, legacy, and transformation. The song "Lazarus," for example, featured the lyrics, "Look up here, I'm in heaven..." which many fans felt, following his passing, were somewhat prophetic in a way.
Even more eerily, the music video for the song featured Bowie in a hospital bed, blindfolded, floating between life and death.
Bowie died in New York City, where he had lived relatively quietly for years. Despite his fame, he was known for keeping a low profile in his later life, especially after retreating from the public eye following a heart attack in 2004. His death sparked an immediate global response, including tributes from fans, other artists, and politicians. The world had lost one of its greatest artists.
But what made Bowie's death especially poignant was how carefully orchestrated it had all seemed. It felt almost as if he had planned his final artistic statement with the same level of care and detail he had applied to every persona and reinvention throughout his career. In the most Bowie way imaginable, his death was a final transformation and last performance.
An All That's Interesting writer since 2013, Erin Kelly focuses on historic places, natural wonders, environmental issues, and the world of science. Her work has also been featured in Smithsonian and she's designed several book covers as a graphic artist.
Jaclyn is the senior managing editor at All That's Interesting. She holds a Master's degree in journalism from the City University of New York and a Bachelor's degree in English writing and history (double major) from DePauw University. She is interested in American history, true crime, modern history, pop culture, and science.
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Kelly, Erin. "Photo Farewells: The Last Known Photographs Of 55 Icons." AllThatsInteresting.com, August 5, 2014, https://allthatsinteresting.com/last-known-photographs. Accessed May 6, 2025.
