Last heartbreaking photos of iconic stars taken shortly before they died – from Elvis Presley to Princess Diana

The wunderkind actor hopped into his Porsche 550 Spyder on September 30, 1955, along with his mechanic Rolf Wütherich, while his friend Bill Hickman and photographer Sanford Roth followed behind in another vehicle, to attend a car racing competition in California.

Shortly before the Porsche crashed into an oncoming Ford Tudor that was making a left turn at an intersection, James was pictured filling his car up with petrol at Sherman Oaks. The Rebel Without a Cause star died at the scene.

Diana's tragic final moments on August 31, 1997, were captured by the very paparazzi who were chasing her through Paris, desperate for a photo of the People's Princess.

At the time, Diana was with her partner, Dodi Fayed, Dodi's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, and their driver, Henri Paul, and the foursome was being hounded by the paparazzi as they left The Ritz Paris.

When the driver tried to throw the paparazzi off by driving through the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, the car crashed into a support column, killing Diana, Dodi and Henri. Trevor was the only survivor of the crash. 

It later came to light that Henri's blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit in France, yet the paparazzi were certainly a contributing factor in the accident. Diana was just 36 years old when she passed, leaving behind her sons, 15-year-old Prince William, and 12-year-old Prince Harry.

In an eerie turn of events, the final photo of John Lennon taken before his death on December 8, 1980, also pictured his killer, Mark David Chapman. The Beatles legend stopped outside his NYC home to sign an autograph for Mark, who was a huge fan, around 5 p.m. that day.

Roughly six hours later, Mark shot John when the singer returned home from a recording session. John was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. He was just 40 years old.  

The Sopranos star was visiting Rome with his wife, Deborah Lin, their young daughter, Liliana, and his teenage son from his previous marriage, Michael, when he died on June 19, 2013. James was set to receive an award at the Taormina Film Festival days later, and had reportedly planned to look into his Italian ancestry during the trip.

After a day of sightseeing, during which the final photo of the actor was taken, James was found unconscious on the hotel bathroom floor around 10 p.m. by his son. He had suffered a massive heart attack and died hours later in hospital, aged 51.

The last photo of rapper Tupac Shakur was taken on September 7, 1996, by UCLA film student Leonard Jefferson, who had happened to pull up beside him at a traffic light and snap a quick picture.

Next to Tupac was his friend and Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, and the pair had just left one of Mike Tyson's boxing matches in Las Vegas. Following an altercation with members of the Southside Compton Crips gang after the event, Tupac and Suge were on their way to a nearby club when a car pulled up next to them and fired into the window.

Suge survived his injuries, yet the 25-year-old Tupac succumbed to his wounds days later after being shot four times. While the identity of the shooter was debated for decades, a major breakthrough occurred in 2023 when former gang leader Duane 'Keffe D' Davis was arrested and charged with orchestrating the murder. 

Just six months after Tupac's death, his East Coast rival, Biggie Smalls, was shot in an eerily similar manner after leaving the Soul Train Music Awards afterparty in LA. The final photo taken of the rapper was at the afterparty party, with his friend, Sean Combs.

According to reports, Biggie left the event just after midnight and had stopped at a red light when a car pulled up beside him and shot into the window, hitting him four times. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital. 

While no one was ever arrested for Biggie's murder, it is widely believed that the 24-year-old's death was in retaliation for Tupac's passing and linked to the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry.

The 50-year-old had been suffering from insomnia for months when his final photos were unknowingly taken on stage. On June 24, 2009, Michael was rehearsing for his upcoming This Is It tour – set to be his big musical comeback after almost a decade without new music – and finished around midnight before heading home.

According to reports, Michael asked his physician, Conrad Murray, to help him sleep by administering him a sedative. After trying a series of medications to no avail, Michael reportedly begged Conrad to give him Propofol, a fast-acting and intense sedative. 

He then went into cardiac arrest and died, yet Conrad did not call an ambulance for almost another hour. Michael could not be revived and was pronounced dead on June 25. Conrad was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served two years in prison. 

Elvis' final photo saw him driving his car through the gates of his Graceland home on August 16, 1977, in the early hours of the morning.

Hours later, he was found unconscious on the floor of his master suite bathroom by his fiancée, Ginger Alden, and was then pronounced dead at the Baptist Memorial Hospital, aged 42. Elvis' official cause of death was a massive heart attack due to the underlying heart disease he had been suffering from.

The eerie final photo of Paul Walker was taken just after he left a charity event for his humanitarian organisation, Reach Out WorldWide, on November 30, 2013. The Fast and Furious star was seen getting into the passenger seat of his friend Roger Rodas' red Porsche, roughly 30 minutes before the same car crashed in Santa Clarita, California.

Roger seemed to suddenly lose control of the car before the Porsche spun, struck a tree and a lamppost, and burst into flames, killing the two men. Paul was 40 years old when he passed.

When Glee star Cory Monteith died aged 31, the news shocked many fans. In the years leading up to his death, Cory has emerged as a brilliant talent with a bright future, largely due to his role on Glee, where he played Finn Hudson. 

The last photo of Cory was this final Instagram post taken in Vancouver, where the star passed away just two days later. This shot captures the silhouette of the actor, with him sitting on a window seat at the East of Main Café during a meal with friends.

He was found unresponsive in his hotel room on July 13, 2013, from an accidental overdose of heroin combined with alcohol. The Canadian actor had been open about his struggles with addiction and was first treated for substance abuse at age 19.

At the time of his death, Cory was dating his Glee co-star Lea Michele, who played his on-screen girlfriend Rachel Berry. They had been together for a year and a half before his death.