Bill Butler, Cinematographer on ‘Jaws,’ Dies at 101

Emmy-winning cinematographer Bill Butler, who was Oscar nominated for shooting “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and was also the D.P. on Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” died Wednesday, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He was 101.

Spielberg remembered Butler in a statement, saying, “On ‘Jaws,’ Bill Butler was the bedrock on that rickety, rocking boat called the Orca. He was the only calm in the middle of that storm, and as we went into a battle against nature and technology that wore both of us down, the audience eventually won the war. Bill’s outlook on life was pragmatic, philosophical and so very patient, and I owe him so much for his steadfast and creative contributions to the entire look of ‘Jaws.’”

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In addition to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler served as d.p. on a number of other high-profile films of the 1970s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,” “Grease,” “Ice Castles,” Bill Murray comedy hit “Stripes” and several entries in the “Rocky” franchise (but not the original).

On both “The Conversation” and “Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler was brought in as replacement for the esteemed cinematographer Haskell Wexler.

Butler was also the cinematographer for “Demon Seed” and “Capricorn One” in the ’70s, as well as Neil Simon adaptation “Biloxi Blues” (1988), horror film “Child’s Play” (1988), Prince musical drama “Graffiti Bridge” (1990), “Flipper” (1996), “Anaconda” (1997) and the Pate brothers’ well-regarded 1997 murder mystery film “Deceiver,” starring Tim Roth and Renee Zellweger. Butler worked into the new century, by which time he was in his 80s, shooting Bill Paxton’s critically hailed 2001 crime drama “Frailty” and the 2006 Chevy Chase comedy “Funny Money.”

Butler also worked a great deal in television, winning Emmy Awards in 1977 for shooting the telepic “Raid on Entebbe” and in 1984 for cinematography on an adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” starring Ann-Margret and Treat Williams. He was also nominated in 1983 for ABC miniseries “The Thorn Birds.”

Recounting the “Jaws” shoot in an interview with Moviemaker magazine in 2005, Butler said, “About 90 percent of the shots on the boat were handheld.” Camera operator Michael Chapman “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” — a handheld Panaflex. “Michael even climbed the mast and shot from the top straight down. We also put him in a small boat.”

Reviewing the “Jaws” Blu-ray edition for the American Society of Cinematographers website, Kenneth Sweeney wrote: “Cinematographer Bill Butler, who worked closely with Spielberg establishing a look for ‘Jaws’ that simulated a person’s point of view while swimming, spent most of his time on the picture in the water with the director. 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 vigorously reconfigured the standard ‘water box’ casing used to hold a camera in the water.” Sweeney also noted that Butler “heroically” saved footage from a camera that sank in the ocean.

Wilmer C. Butler was born in Cripple Creek, Colo., where his early upbringing was rustic, but he was raised mainly in the small Iowa college town of Mount Pleasant. Butler attended Ohio Wesleyan University, Iowa Wesleyan College and the University of Iowa, studying electronics but graduating with a degree in engineering.

Butler began his career in the entertainment industry as an engineer at a radio station in Gary, Indiana. He helped design and build the first television stations at ABC’s Chicago affiliate and later at WGN-TV. After WGN went on-air, Butler operated a live camera for commercials and for programs produced locally.

While at WGN Butler met a young William Friedkin, who asked him to serve as cinematographer on a documentary he was making, “The People vs. Paul Crump,” about a prisoner on death row in Illinois; as a result of the 1962 film, the governor commuted Crump’s death sentence. Working on the film refocused Butler’s interests from television to filmed documentaries.

Butler’s first credit on a narrative feature came on Philip Kaufman’s 1967 film “Fearless Frank,” starring Jon Voight, after which he shot Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Rain People” (1969), starring James Caan and Shirley Knight, and the Jack Nicholson-directed “Drive, He Said” (1971). In 1972 he was the lenser on the Robert Culp-directed “Hickey and Boggs,” starring Bill Cosby and Culp.

While on the Universal lot working for Kaufman, he met the young Spielberg, and Butler ended up as d.p. on two of the director’s early efforts, the TV movies “Something Evil” and “Savage.” He lensed a number of other TV movies in the next couple of years, including the notable “The Execution of Private Slovik,” starring Martin Sheen, before Coppola asked him to serve as d.p. on what turned out to be the brilliant 1974 film “The Conversation,” starring Gene Hackman. After that he shot “Jaws.”

Butler was honored with the American Society of Cinematographers’ lifetime achievement award in 2003.

Butler is survived by his wife, Iris, and five daughters.

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