Ronald Leyser was a television-commercial director whose documented work included advertising productions during the 1990s. He was also the husband of Ginger Alden, with whom he had a son named Hunter.
Trade publications connected Leyser with a large Mojave Desert shoot and a later assignment through Heathgate Films. The family lived in New York, and Leyser remained married to Alden until his death on August 16, 2015.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Professional role | Television-commercial director |
| Documented work | Advertising production |
| Professional affiliation | Heathgate Films |
| Spouse | Ginger Alden |
| Child | Hunter |
| Documented residence | Sag Harbor, New York |
| Date of death | August 16, 2015 |
Ronald Leyser’s Commercial-Directing Work
Contemporary advertising-industry reports provide the clearest account of Leyser’s professional work. Variety and Playback identified him as a director on separate commercial assignments, while a 2002 newspaper report also described him as a television-commercial director.
In November 1993, Leyser directed a ten-day advertising production for L&M Cigarettes in the Mojave Desert. Variety reported on the project in April 1994 and described it as a multimillion-dollar location shoot.
The assignment establishes that Leyser was directing substantial commercial productions by the early 1990s. Although the report did not provide a complete list of collaborators or explain his contractual arrangement, it placed him in the directing role on a clearly identified campaign.
Another professional record appeared in Playback in May 1995. The publication identified Leyser as a Heathgate Films director preparing for a one-day commercial assignment for McCain Country Cottage through BWS.
Director of photography Harry Lake was also named in connection with the production. The report did not specify how long Leyser had worked with Heathgate Films, but it confirms his association with the company at that time.
Together, the two assignments show Leyser working on commercial productions with considerably different schedules and settings: a ten-day desert shoot completed in 1993 and a one-day assignment reported in 1995.
His Marriage to Ginger Alden and Their Son
Ronald Leyser was married to Ginger Alden, an author and former model best known for her earlier connection to Elvis Presley. A San Diego Reader article published in February 1993 described Alden as married to Leyser and associated the couple with Long Island.
Published accounts disagree on whether the couple married in 1990 or 1991. The contemporary 1993 report confirms that they were married by that point, but the available evidence does not establish one wedding year with enough certainty to resolve the difference.
Leyser and Alden had one publicly documented child, a son named Hunter. In July 2002, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Alden was living in Sag Harbor, New York, with Leyser and Hunter. The newspaper also identified Leyser as a television-commercial director.
During publicity for her 2014 memoir, Alden recalled an early conversation with her future husband. After discovering that she came from Memphis, Leyser asked whether she had ever been inside Graceland. Her answer surprised him, and Alden later said that Hunter considered the story of her earlier engagement to Presley “pretty neat.”
Ronald Leyser’s Death in 2015
Ronald Leyser died late on August 16, 2015. Ginger Alden’s sister, Rosemary Alden Starkey, announced his death publicly the following day and asked people to keep Ginger, Hunter, and both families in their thoughts and prayers.
His death occurred on the same calendar date as Elvis Presley’s death 38 years earlier. Leyser and Alden remained married until his death.
Although Ronald Leyser did not maintain a prominent public profile, contemporary records identify him independently through his commercial-directing work. They document professional assignments during the 1990s, his association with Heathgate Films, and his family life with Ginger Alden and their son.