Ronald Haver (January 14, 1939 – May 18, 1993Ronald Haver biography
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

) was an American film historian, preservationist and author. For over twenty years, he was director of Film Programs at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

. In 1981, the idea to restore the classic

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

version of the film '' A Star is Born'' (1954) took hold as the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

made tribute to longtime lyricist Ira Gershwin by screening " The Man That Got Away" number. Haver started his search for the lost footage in 1982 after being approved by the Academy. He found the footage in the Sound Department storage facility at the Warner Bros. studios and restored the deleted scenes from the film. These scenes, including two musical numbers, were cut by the studio shortly after its premiere due to distributor complaints about the film's length.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

made the deletions without the cooperation of its director,

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...

, and the scenes were lost for years, much to the disappointment of Garland fans and film historians. Because of the missing footage for the film, Haver used Cukor's production stills to cover the missing footage. The "restored" version of the film was screened at Radio City Music Hall on July 7, 1983, and was released nationwide. Haver was also involved with second audio commentary tracks for many Criterion Collection LaserDisc releases such as the original ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' and '' The Wizard of Oz''. Haver died on May 18, 1993, from an AIDS-related illness in a Culver City nursing home at the age of 54.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haver, Ronald American male biographers 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American film historians Film theorists 1939 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American male writers