Bill Butler (cinematographer)

American cinematographer (1921–2023)

Alma H. Smith

(m. 1943; div. 1983)

Iris Butler

(m. 1984)

Children5AwardsAmerican Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award

Wilmer Cable Butler (April 7, 1921 – April 5, 2023) was an American cinematographer who was known for his work on The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975), and three Rocky sequels. Butler also completed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) after Haskell Wexler was fired from the production, and was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Early life and education

Wilmer Cable Butler^[1]^[2] was born on April 7, 1921, in Cripple Creek, Colorado.^[1]^[3]^[4] Butler spent the first five years of his life living in a log cabin on a homestead in Colorado, where his parents were farmers. He moved with his parents to Henry County when he was 5 years old and raised in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, a small college town.^[4]^[5] He graduated from Mount Pleasant High School in 1940.^[4]

During World War II, Butler served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, working as a signal caller due to his background with high frequency electronics.^[6]^[7] However, he was discharged when an untreated hernia was discovered.^[6] Butler then graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Iowa.^[8]

Early career

Butler began his career as an engineer at a radio station in Gary, Indiana. He subsequently moved to Chicago, where he helped design and build the first television stations at the ABC affiliate and later at WGN-TV. When WGN went on the air, Butler operated a live video camera for commercials and for locally produced programs.^[5]^[8] At his tenure with WGN, Butler met William Friedkin.^[1]

Friedkin asked Butler to be his cinematographer on The People vs. Paul Crump, a documentary that focused on a prisoner who was slated for execution in Illinois. It was a docudrama that resulted in the governor of Illinois commuting the prisoner's death sentence.^[8] "I was very successful in television, so I had no reason to go into film," Butler said. "But I knew Bill Friedkin was interested in making a film documentary, and he needed a cinematographer. He asked me to assist him. And I did." As a result, Butler's interest shifted from live television to film documentaries.^[4]^[5] In a 2005 interview, Butler credited Friedkin with giving him his first actual job in the film industry.^[8]

Cinematography

Butler earned his first narrative credit in Chicago in 1967 for Fearless Frank, a low-budget feature directed by Philip Kaufman.^[3]^[4]^[5] Two years later, Butler shot The Rain People (1969) for Francis Ford Coppola,^[5]^[9] who was introduced to him by Friedkin.^[1] Butler moved to Los Angeles in 1970.^[5]

"I did some work with director Phil Kaufman on the Universal Studios lot as a writer while I was still trying to get into the Los Angeles camera guild," Butler recalled. "That's when I met Steven Spielberg."^[10] Butler would then take charge of cinematography for two of Spielberg's earliest films, Something Evil (1972) and Savage (1973).^[10]^[11]

Other films which Butler served as the director of photography include The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976), Grease (1978) and installments two, three, and four of Rocky.^[3] Butler was also the cinematographer for Demon Seed (1977),^[12] as well as Capricorn One (1977), Stripes (1981), Biloxi Blues (1988), Child's Play (1988), Graffiti Bridge (1990), Flipper (1996), Anaconda (1997) and Deceiver (1997).^[5]^[13] His television credits include The Execution of Private Slovik (1974) and The Thorn Birds (1983).^[5]

Butler was scheduled to have made his directorial debut in January 1979 with Adrift & Beyond, but it never came to fruition.^[1] Butler turned down Coppola's offer to direct the photography for Apocalypse Now (1979). Butler has worked in films during the 2000s, such as Frailty (2002) and Funny Money (2006).^[8]^[14] Bill Paxton, the director of the former film, said, "I was excited when Bill Butler who was the cinematographer on such classic films as Jaws and The Conversation came aboard as my director of photography for Frailty. And I really picked his brain, always asking 'how did you do this shot?' and 'how did you figure that out?'" Bill Butler recounted his initial conversations with Paxton about the script: "I liked the direction he wanted to take, and he inspired me to share his vision. It was a great collaboration."^[15]

Butler is also notable for being a replacement to Haskell Wexler on two occasions: The Conversation (1974; also directed by Coppola)^[16]^[17] and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).^[18]^[19]

Jaws

Butler had heard that Spielberg was preparing to shoot Jaws (1975), mainly on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. "I said, 'I hear you're making a movie about a fish,'" Butler recalled. After they joked for a few minutes, Spielberg asked Butler if he was interested.^[10]

Butler's crew included Michael Chapman as camera operator. When they arrived on Martha's Vineyard, Butler showed Spielberg how he could brace a handheld Panaflex camera and take the roll out of the boat rocking on the waves with his knees instead of using a 400-lb gimbal. Spielberg embraced the idea. "About 90% of the shots on the boat were handheld," Butler says. "Michael was intrigued by the idea and was very good at it. We did things that we probably wouldn't have tried without the lightweight camera. Michael even climbed the mast and shot from the top straight down. We also put him in a small boat."^[10]

During the production of Jaws, Butler spent most of his time on the picture in the water with Spielberg. Butler created a special camera platform that worked with the water to accommodate both "below the water line" and "surface" shots quickly. To handle the longer surface shots the film required, Butler reconfigured the standard "water box" casing used to hold a camera in the water. He also is acknowledged for saving footage from a camera that sank into the ocean, having claimed sea water is similar to saline-based developing solutions. "We got on an airplane with the film in a bucket of water, took it to New York and developed it. We didn't lose a foot," said Butler.^[20]

Butler also created a pontoon camera raft with a waterproof housing that achieved those trademark water level shots that gave a point of view from the shark fin. To stop water drops hitting the lens, Butler used the Panavision Spray Deflector that saw an optical glass spin at high speed to deflect the drops except for the 4th of July beach stampede where the water-lens interface adds to the panic.^[11]

Butler originally envisioned the look of Jaws to start in bright, summer sunshine and then become more ominous as the shark hunt goes on. The first half remains a riot of vibrant primary colors. In filming Amity, Butler was inspired by the work of painters such as Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth in their view of the United States untainted by urban life.^[11]

Personal life

Butler resided in Montana.^[13] On June 1, 2014, Butler returned to his hometown of Mount Pleasant for a reception honoring his career.^[4]

Butler had five daughters, three from his first marriage to Alma H. Smith, and two, Genevieve and Chelsea, who are both actresses, from his second marriage to Iris Butler.^[1]

Death

Butler turned 100 on April 7, 2021,^[21] and died in Los Angeles on April 5, 2023, two days before his 102nd birthday.^[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1967	Fearless Frank	Philip Kaufman
1969	The Rain People	Francis Ford Coppola
1970	Adam's Woman	Philip Leacock
1971	Drive, He Said	Jack Nicholson
1971	The Return of Count Yorga	Bob Kelljan
1972	Deathmaster	Ray Danton
	Melinda	Hugh A. Robertson
	Hickey & Boggs	Robert Culp
1973	Running Wild	Robert McCahon
1974	The Conversation	Francis Ford Coppola
1975	The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery	Dean Hargrove
	Jaws	Steven Spielberg
	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Miloš Forman	Replaced Haskell Wexler
1976	Lipstick	Lamont Johnson
	The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings	John Badham
	Alex & the Gypsy	John Korty
1977	Demon Seed	Donald Cammell
1977	Capricorn One	Peter Hyams
1978	Damien - Omen II	Don Taylor
	Grease	Randal Kleiser
	Uncle Joe Shannon	Joseph Hanwright
	Ice Castles	Donald Wrye
1979	Rocky II	Sylvester Stallone
1980	Can't Stop the Music	Nancy Walker
1980	It's My Turn	Claudia Weill
1981	The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia	Ronald F. Maxwell
1981	Stripes	Ivan Reitman
1982	Rocky III	Sylvester Stallone
1983	The Sting II	Jeremy Kagan
1985	Beer	Patrick Kelly
1985	Rocky IV	Sylvester Stallone
1986	Big Trouble	John Cassavetes
1988	Biloxi Blues	Mike Nichols
	Wildfire	Zalman King
	Child's Play	Tom Holland
1990	Graffiti Bridge	Prince
1991	Hot Shots!	Jim Abrahams
1993	Sniper	Luis Llosa
	Cop and a Half	Henry Winkler
	Beethoven's 2nd	Rod Daniel
1996	Flipper	Alan Shapiro
1997	Anaconda	Luis Llosa
1997	Deceiver	Jonas Pate Josh Pate
2000	Ropewalk	Matt Brown
2001	Frailty	Bill Paxton
2006	Funny Money	Leslie Greif
2006	The Plague	Hal Masonberg	Direct-to-video
2007	Redline	Andy Cheng
2008	The Chauffeur	Jérôme Dassier
2009	Evil Angel	Richard Dutcher
2016	The Boys at the Bar	Richard Dutcher

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1968	A Space to Grow	Robert O'Donnel	Documentary short
2005	Berserker	Josh Eckberg
2006	Zombie Prom	Vince Marcello
2008	Looking Up Dresses	Jared Ingram

Television

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1962	The People vs. Paul Crump	William Friedkin	Documentary film
1965	The Bold Men^[a]	William Friedkin	Documentary film
1970	A Clear and Present Danger	James Goldstone
1972	Something Evil	Steven Spielberg
1973	Savage	Steven Spielberg
	Deliver Us from Evil	Boris Sagal
	Sunshine	Joseph Sargent
	I Heard the Owl Call My Name	Daryl Duke
1974	Indict and Convict	Boris Sagal
1974	The Execution of Private Slovik	Lamont Johnson
1975	Target Risk	Robert Scheerer
	Hustling	Joseph Sargent
	Fear on Trial	Lamont Johnson
1976	Raid on Entebbe	Irvin Kershner
1977	Mary White	Jud Taylor
1980	Death Ray 2000	Lee H. Katzin
1981	Killing at Hell's Gate	Jerry Jameson
1984	A Streetcar Named Desire	John Erman
1987	Bates Motel	Richard Rothstein
1989	When We Were Young	Daryl Duke
1995	A Walton Wedding	Robert Ellis Miller
1997	Don King: Only in America	John Herzfeld
1999	Passing Glory	Steve James
2000	Hendrix	Leon Ichaso	With Claudio Chea
2002	Joe and Max	Steve James

TV series

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1972–1973	Ghost Story	Richard Donner Paul Stanley Don McDougall Leo Penn David Lowell Rich	5 episodes
1975	McCoy	Dean Hargrove Richard Quine	Episode "The Big Ripoff"
1983	The Thorn Birds	Daryl Duke	Miniseries
1991	Brooklyn Bridge
1996	Dark Skies	Tobe Hooper	Episode "The Awakening (Part 1)"
1999	G vs E	Josh Pate Jonas Pate	Episode "Orange Volvo"

Awards, nominations, and honors

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result	Ref.
1975	Academy Awards	Best Cinematography	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Shared with Haskell Wexler)	Nominated	^[23]
1975	BAFTA Awards	Best Cinematography		Nominated
1976	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie	Raid on Entebbe	Won	^[1]^[3]^[4]^[24]^[13]
1983			The Thorn Birds	Nominated
1984			A Streetcar Named Desire	Won
1997	Stockholm International Film Festival	Best Cinematography	Deceiver	Won
2003	American Society of Cinematographers	Lifetime Achievement Award		Won	^[5]^[8]^[10]^[20]

After the ASC honored him with the award, Spielberg wrote a letter to Butler acknowledging his award which indicated the director's mutual respect for Butler and his work behind the camera. "You were the calm before, during and after every storm on the set of Jaws," Spielberg wrote in the letter. "Without your zen-like confidence and wonderful sense of humor, I would have gone the way of the rest of the Jaws crew — totally out of my friggin' mind. Congratulations on this well-deserved career achievement award from your peers. All my best, Steven."^[4]

Butler also was named KODAK Cinematographer in Residence at the University of Arizona (Department of Media Arts) in 2006.^[1]^[25]

On April 28, 2013, the Charleston International Film Festival presented Butler with the festival's inaugural lifetime achievement award.^[13]^[26]

References

^ Shared credit with Ángel Bilbatúa, Bob Bukor, Miki Carter, James Crabe, Doyle Fields, Vilis Lapenieks, Grant Rohloff, Primo Sanchez, Bud S. Smith

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Bill Butler
^ "Wilmer Cable Butler". U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940–1947. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bill Butler biography at The New York Times
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Hoffman, Andy (1 June 2014). "Award-winning cinematographer returns to Mount Pleasant". Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Bill Butler". 26 October 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b Remembering Bill Butler, the Mount Pleasant native and cinematographer that changed cinema The Hawk Eye. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
^ The Life of Bill Butler Prezi. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Whyte, Jason (28 March 2005). "Bill Butler, Cinematographer - Profile Interview Series Vol. #7". Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ Hill, Rodney F.; Phillips, Gene D.; Welsh, James M. (2010). The Francis Ford Coppola Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810876514.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Shooting Jaws at 30". MovieMaker. 21 June 2005. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Freer, Ian. "Jaws Filmmaking 101". Empire. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ "Cinematographer Bill Butler To Shoot "Demon Seed"". Pittsburgh Press. 18 June 1976. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Bill Butler to Come to Charleston for Sixth Annual Charleston International Film Festival". 10 April 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ Skir, James (12 January 2005). "JAWS Screenwriter & Cinematographer Appear at Hollywood's Master Storytellers Series at The Arclight". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^ "Frailty : Production Notes". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^ Stafford, Jeff. "The Conversation". Tcm.com. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^ "Conversation Pieces". 13 August 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^ Townsend, Sylvia (19 December 2014). "Haskell Wexler and the Making of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'". Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ Krause, Luana (5 August 2013). "The Conversation". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^ ^a ^b Sweeney, Kenneth (October 2012). "Jaws (1975)". Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "A Hundredth-Birthday Serenade, from Bill Murray". The New Yorker. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ Bartlett, Rhett (6 April 2023). "Bill Butler, Cinematographer on 'Jaws', Dies at 101". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
^ "HUMANITARIAN AWARD: CINEMATOGRAPHER HASKELL WEXLER". Location Managers Guild International. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
^ "Bill Butler, Asc, On Shooting Graffiti Bridge with Prince". FILM & VIDEO Magazine. VPOP Technologies, Inc. 1990. Archived from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2015 – via Bill Butler's page].
^ University Communications (14 November 2006). "'Jaws' Cinematographer and Resident Artist to Speak at Screening". UA News. The University of Arizona. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Cinematographer Bill Butler To Receive Charleston International Film Festival Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award". Vimooz. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2015.