Bill Butler (cinematographer) facts for kids

Wilmer Cable Butler (born April 7, 1921 – died April 5, 2023) was a very talented American cinematographer. A cinematographer is the person in charge of how a movie looks. They decide on the lighting, camera angles, and how the scenes are filmed.

Bill Butler was famous for his work on many well-known movies. These include The Conversation (1974) and Jaws (1975). He also worked on three of the Rocky movies. He even helped finish One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). For his work on that film, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Early Life and Learning

Wilmer Cable Butler was born on April 7, 1921. His hometown was Cripple Creek, Colorado. For his first five years, Bill lived in a log cabin on a farm in Colorado. His parents were farmers.

When he was five, his family moved to Henry County, Iowa. He grew up in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. This was a small town with a college. He finished high school in Mount Pleasant in 1940. Later, he earned a degree in engineering from the University of Iowa.

Starting His Career

Bill Butler began his career as an engineer. He worked at a radio station in Gary, Indiana. After that, he moved to Chicago. There, he helped build the first television stations for ABC and WGN-TV.

When WGN-TV started broadcasting, Bill operated a live video camera. He filmed commercials and local TV shows. At WGN, he met a director named William Friedkin. Friedkin asked Bill to be the cinematographer for a documentary. This film was called The People vs. Paul Crump. It was about a prisoner who was going to be executed. The film helped convince the governor to change the prisoner's sentence.

Bill said he was doing well in television. But he decided to try filmmaking. He helped Friedkin with the documentary. This experience made him want to work on films instead of live TV. Bill always said that William Friedkin gave him his first real job in the movie world.

Becoming a Cinematographer

Bill Butler got his first movie credit in 1967. It was for a film called Fearless Frank. This movie was directed by Philip Kaufman. Two years later, he worked on The Rain People (1969). This film was for Francis Ford Coppola, who he met through Friedkin. Bill moved to Los Angeles in 1970.

He recalled meeting Steven Spielberg while working at Universal Studios. Bill then became the cinematographer for two of Spielberg's early films. These were Something Evil (1972) and Savage (1973).

Bill Butler was the director of photography for many other movies. These include The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976) and Grease (1978). He also worked on Rocky II, Rocky III, and Rocky IV. Some of his other films were Stripes (1981), Child's Play (1988), Flipper (1996), and Anaconda (1997).

He also worked on TV shows. These include The Execution of Private Slovik (1974) and The Thorn Birds (1983). Bill Butler also helped finish The Conversation (1974) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). He took over from another cinematographer, Haskell Wexler, on both films.

Filming Jaws

Bill Butler heard that Steven Spielberg was going to film Jaws (1975). Much of the movie was shot on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Spielberg asked Bill if he was interested in working on it.

Bill's team included Michael Chapman as a camera operator. When they got to Martha's Vineyard, Bill showed Spielberg a new way to film on a rocking boat. He could hold a lightweight camera and use his knees to keep it steady. Spielberg loved this idea. Bill said that about 90% of the shots on the boat were filmed this way. They could do things they wouldn't have tried with heavier cameras. Michael even climbed the mast to film from high up.

During the filming of Jaws, Bill Butler spent a lot of time in the water with Spielberg. Bill created a special camera platform. This platform could quickly film both above and below the water. He also changed a standard "water box" to hold the camera for longer shots on the surface.

Bill is also famous for saving film that sank into the ocean. He said that seawater is like the chemicals used to develop film. "We got on an airplane with the film in a bucket of water," Bill said. "We took it to New York and developed it. We didn't lose a single foot of film."

Bill also made a special camera raft. This raft had a waterproof case. It helped create the famous shots from the shark's point of view, just above the water. To stop water drops from hitting the camera lens, he used a special spinning glass. This glass would spin very fast to push the drops away. However, for the scene where people panic on the beach, he let the water hit the lens. This made the scene feel even more chaotic.

Bill wanted Jaws to start bright and sunny. Then, as the shark hunt continued, he wanted the look to become darker and more serious. The first part of the movie is full of bright, lively colors. Bill was inspired by painters like Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth. He wanted to show the beauty of the United States, away from big cities.

Awards and Honors

Bill Butler was nominated for an Academy Award for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). He shared this nomination with Haskell Wexler. He also won Primetime Emmy Awards for Raid on Entebbe (1977) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1984).

On February 16, 2003, Bill received a special award. It was the American Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honored his amazing career. His work on Jaws was one of the main reasons for this award. Steven Spielberg even wrote a letter to Bill, showing his respect. Spielberg wrote, "You were the calm before, during and after every storm on the set of Jaws." He added that without Bill's calm attitude and humor, he would have gone "totally out of my friggin' mind."

In 2006, Bill Butler was named KODAK Cinematographer in Residence. This was at the University of Arizona. On April 28, 2013, he received the first-ever lifetime achievement award from the Charleston International Film Festival.

Personal Life and Passing

Bill Butler lived in Montana. On June 1, 2014, he visited his hometown of Mount Pleasant. There was a special event to celebrate his career.

Bill had five daughters. Three were from his first marriage to Alma H. Smith. Two, Genevieve and Chelsea, are actresses. They are from his second marriage to Iris Butler.

Bill Butler turned 100 years old on April 7, 2021. He passed away in Los Angeles on April 5, 2023. He died just two days before his 102nd birthday.