Rare “Holiday Special” Backstage Photo Found

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A newly uncovered backstage photo from the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special captures a candid moment between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, offering a rare glimpse behind the scenes of one of the franchise’s most infamous productions. Preserved from long‑buried archival material, the image provides fresh historical context for a broadcast that remains both notorious and culturally significant within Star Wars history.

Rare “Holiday Special” Backstage Photo Found

As someone always on the lookout for rare old Star Wars photos, I was pleased to discover Forbes.com’s Geek Beat columnist David M. Ewalt had unearthed a cool old gem from the vaguely-documented “Star Wars Holiday Special” of 1978, which we actually lent a bit of coverage to a couple years ago.

While researching a couple of those pieces, I came across a rare Associated Press image of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in photocopied articles from 1978, but couldn’t locate the original in Lucasfilm’s expansive Image Archives (apparently, wire photos were not automatically sent to LFL for approval and/or cataloging). Enter Ewalt’s Geek Beat column, which appears to have located the original shot of Ford and Fisher in a rare backstage moment captured by AP photographer George Brich.

Ah, to be a fly on the wall to hear what Ford is sharing with Fisher before their next Holiday Special take…