Editing Judy Garland (section)

==== 1954–1963: Hollywood comeback ====
[[File:Garland Star Born recrop.jpg|thumb|upright|Garland in ''[[A Star Is Born (1954 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1954)]]
Garland appeared with [[James Mason]] in the [[Warner Bros.]] film ''[[A Star Is Born (1954 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1954), the first remake of [[A Star Is Born (1937 film)|the 1937 film]]. She and Sidney Luft, her then-husband, produced the film through their [[production company]], Transcona Enterprises, while Warner Bros. supplied finances, production facilities and crew.{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=308}} Directed by [[George Cukor]], it was a large undertaking to which she initially fully dedicated herself.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles {{!}} National Film Preservation Board {{!}} Programs at the Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/descriptions-and-essays/ |website=Library of Congress, Washington, DC |access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

As shooting progressed, however, she began making the same pleas of illness that she had so often made during her final films at MGM. Production delays led to cost overruns and angry confrontations with Warner Bros. head [[Jack L. Warner]]. Principal photography wrapped on March 17, 1954. At Luft's suggestion, the "Born in a Trunk" medley was filmed as a showcase for her and inserted over director Cukor's objections, who feared the additional length would lead to cuts in other areas. It was completed on July 29.{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=319}}

Upon its world premiere on September 29, 1954, the film was met with critical and popular acclaim. Before its release, it was edited at the instruction of Jack Warner; theater operators, concerned that they were losing money because they were only able to run the film for three or four shows per day instead of five or six, pressured the studio to make additional reductions. After its first-run engagements, about 30 minutes of footage were cut, sparking outrage among critics and filmgoers. Although it was still popular, drawing huge crowds and grossing over $6 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|6|1954|r=1}} million in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}) in its first release, ''A Star is Born'' did not make back its cost and ended up losing money. As a result, the secure financial position Garland had expected from the profits did not materialize.{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=325}} Transcona made no more films with Warner.{{sfn|Juneau|1974|p=126}}
[[File:Judy Garland filming A Star Is Born.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Garland filming a scene as a restaurant [[carhop]] for ''A Star Is Born'' (1954)]]
Garland was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and, in the run-up to the [[27th Academy Awards]], was generally expected to win for ''A Star Is Born''. She could not attend the ceremony because she had just given birth, so a television crew was in her hospital room with cameras and wires to broadcast her anticipated acceptance speech. The Oscar was won, however, by [[Grace Kelly]] for ''[[The Country Girl (1954 film)|The Country Girl]]'' (1954). The camera crew packed up before Kelly could even reach the stage. [[Groucho Marx]] sent Garland a telegram after the awards ceremony, declaring her loss "the biggest robbery since [[Great Brink's Robbery|Brinks]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chicago Tribune: Chicago news, sports, weather, entertainment|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/|access-date=November 27, 2021|website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' labeled her performance as "just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history".{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=326}} Garland won the [[Golden Globe Award]] for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy|Best Actress in a Musical]] for the role.<ref>{{cite web|title=Judy Garland|publisher=[[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]]|url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/member/29377|access-date=December 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111182936/http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/member/29377|archive-date=January 11, 2008}}</ref>

Garland's films after ''A Star Is Born'' included ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961) (for which she was Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated for Best Supporting Actress),<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 5, 2013 |title=Gay Purr-ee (1962) |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17933/Judgment-at-Nuremberg/ |website=[[Turner Classic Movies|TCM]]}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> the animated feature ''[[Gay Purr-ee]]'' (1962) and ''[[A Child Is Waiting]]'' (1963) with [[Burt Lancaster]]. Her final film was ''[[I Could Go On Singing]]'' (1963) with [[Dirk Bogarde]].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Garland|first1=Judy|title=I Could Go on Singing|date=October 11, 1963|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057168/|work=IMDb|last2=Bogarde|last3=Klugman|last4=MacMahon|first2=Dirk|first3=Jack|first4=Aline|access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref>