Robert Butler

Robert Stanton Butler (November 16, 1927 – November 3, 2023) was 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 Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes, Batman, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Hill Street Blues. 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 Star Trek, Shane, Hogan's Heroes, Batman, The Blue Knight, Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele (a show which he also co-created), Moonlighting, Sisters, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Butler also directed episodes for many other shows, including Bonanza, I Spy, Blue Light, The Invaders, Gunsmoke, The Outcasts, Mission: Impossible, Kung Fu, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo: Publish or Perish, Columbo: Double Shock and Midnight Caller.

Butler directed actor Kurt Russell in four Walt Disney movies, including Guns in the Heather, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Barefoot Executive.

Butler 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 died in Los Angeles on November 3, 2023, missing his 96th birthday by thirteen days. With his death, Ralph Senensky had become the last living director to direct an episode of Star Trek (1966) until his own death almost exactly 2 years later on November 1, 2025

Filmography Film Guns in the Heather (1969) The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) The Barefoot Executive (1971) Scandalous John (1971) Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972) The Ultimate Thrill (1974) Black Bart (1975) (Also producer) Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978) Night of the Juggler (1980) Underground Aces (1981) Up The Creek (1984) Turbulence (1997) Where Do the Balloons Go? (2009) (Short film)

Television

TV movies

Associate director Climax! (1956–1958) (4 Episodes) Playhouse 90 (1958–1959) (3 Episodes)