Dean Butler

Dean Butler (born May 20, 1956 ) is a Canadian-American actor and producer of entertainment, sports and documentary programming. He is best known for being Almanzo Wilder in the NBC series Little House on the Prairie.

Biography

Early life Born in Prince George, British Columbia, and raised in Piedmont, California, Butler studied communication arts at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

Career Butler's career as an actor started with a small part on the TV series The Streets of San Francisco. His first major role was in the 1978 TV movie Forever, based on Judy Blume's novel of the same title.

Butler is best known for his portrayal of Almanzo Wilder on the NBC family drama Little House on the Prairie, which was based on the classic Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. He appeared in the final four seasons of the show and the three post-series TV movies. After Little House ended, he played Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin in the TV series The New Gidget and Buffy’s father, Hank Summers, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Butler was a guest star on various television series, including Murder, She Wrote; Who's the Boss?; The Love Boat; and JAG. He co-starred with the late Gary Coleman in The Kid with the 200 I.Q.. He appeared in the movies Desert Hearts and The Final Goal.

Onstage, Butler has performed in the shows of Stephen Sondheim. He appeared on Broadway in the original company of Into the Woods as Rapunzel's Prince, internationally as Tony in West Side Story and regionally in Company.

Directing and producing Butler now works largely behind the camera producing entertainment, sports, and documentary programming. Butler produces Feherty for Golf Channel, starring David Feherty. In addition, he is a West Coast correspondent for Broadway World, a provider of web content about the performing arts.

Butler has directed, produced, written, and narrated bonus features for Little House on the Prairie DVD collections. He narrated a six-part documentary, The Little House Phenomenon.

Butler has produced two documentaries, Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura, which drew their inspiration from the Little House books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Additionally, in 2012, Butler co-executive produced Pa's Fiddle: The Music of America for PBS.

Personal life

Butler is married to actress Katherine Cannon, who played Felice Martin on the television series Beverly Hills 90210. They met when Cannon auditioned for the female lead in the Michael Landon series Father Murphy. They live in Los Angeles, California.

Acting credits Year Title Role Notes 1978 Forever Michael Wagner TV movie 1979–1983 Little House on the Prairie Almanzo Wilder Main cast (65 episodes) 1980 CHiPs Dean Butler Episode: "The Great 5K Star Race and Boulder Wrap Party: Part 2" 1981 Here's Boomer Gary Episode: "Good Looking" 1982 The Love Boat Stan Barber Episode: "Familiar Faces"1983 The Kid with the 200 I.Q. Steve Bensfield TV movie Fantasy Island Carl Peters Episode: "The Devil Stick/Touch and Go" The Love Boat Scott Pryor Episode: "Kisses and Makeup" Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Almanzo Wilder TV movie1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Fantasy Island Harley Batten Episode: "Sing Melancholy Baby/The Last Dogfight" Who's the Boss? Jason Episode: "Mona Gets Pinned"1985 Hotel Michael Korsak Episode: "Anniversary"Gidget's Summer Reunion Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin TV movie Desert Hearts Darrell Feature film 1986 The Love Boat Brent Harper Episode: "Couples/Made for Each Other" 1986–1988 The New Gidget Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin Main cast (44 episodes) 1987 Hotel Gary Marsh Episode: "All the King's Horses" 1989 ABC Afterschool Specials Matthew Green Episode: "Private Affairs" 1990 Murder, She Wrote Howard Griffin Episode: "The Fixer-Upper"1991 Shades of LA Dr. Ted Kolfax Episode: "Till Death Do Us Part" Without a Pass Officer #1 (1965) Feature film 1992 Tequila and Bonetti Frank Avalon Episode: "Brooklyn and the Beast"1994 Diagnosis: Murder Sly Episode: "Georgia on My Mind" Juana la Cubana Mark Taylor Feature film 1995 The Final Goal Valentine 1996 Renegade Cop Episode: "Baby Makes Three" 1997–2002 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Hank Summers Recurring role (5 episodes) 1997 Fame L.A. Producer Episode: "Seize the Day"2000 Cover Me FBI Agent Episode: "The Line" Ricky 6 Vic Portelance Feature film 2003 JAG Navy Appellate Court Judge #2 Episode: "Lawyers, Guns and Money" 2008 Chemical Wedding Ceremony Man Feature film (aka Crowley)

Theatre

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