Robert Butler (director)


Robert Butler is an American film and Emmy Award-winning television director. He is best known for his work in television, where he directed the pilots for a number of series including , Hogan's Heroes and Hill Street Blues.

Career

Butler graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, where he majored in English. He was first in an army band, before his career as a stage manager and an assistant before launching his directing career with an episode of Hennesey and then went on to direct such shows as The Untouchables, Dr. Kildare, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Batman, The Fugitive and The Twilight Zone.
Butler shot pilots for many TV series including the original ', Hogan's Heroes, Batman, The Blue Knight, Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele, Moonlighting, Sisters, and '.
Butler has also directed episodes for many other shows, including I Spy, Blue Light, The Invaders, Gunsmoke, The Outcasts, , Kung Fu, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo: Publish or Perish, Columbo: Double Shock, and Midnight Caller.
He directed actor Kurt Russell in four Walt Disney movies, including Guns in the Heather, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Barefoot Executive.
Butler has won two Emmy Awards for outstanding directing, the first in 1973 for The Blue Knight pilot, and the second in 1981 for his Hill Street Blues premiere.
In 2014 Butler's work was the subject of a career retrospective at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Butler was honored by the Directors Guild of America with a Lifetime Achievement Award in February 2015.

Filmography

Films

Television