Filmmaker Robert Butler handed away earlier within the month on November 3 at 95 years previous, in line with the Hollywood Reporter.
A director of movie and TV, Butler directed the pilot episodes for each the 1966 Batman series starring the late Adam West and the unique live-action Star Trek series in 1988, in flip setting the tone for each exhibits that they’re now well-known for. Whereas his time with Trek technically ended there—he’s credited as director for half two of Trek’s “The Menagerie,” as most of that episode reuses footage from the unaired pilot “The Cage”—he went on to direct six Batman episodes total. All of these have been early on in season one and consisted of two-parters which launched the Riddler (Frank Gorshin) in “Hello Diddle Riddler/Smack within the Center”, the Penguin (Burgess Meredith) in “Tremendous Feathered Finks/The Penguin’s a Jinx,” and George Sanders’ Mr. Freeze in “Immediate Freeze/Rats Like Cheese.”
Butler directed a lot of tv, and far of his filmography consisted of style exhibits corresponding to The Twilight Zone (“Caesar & Me,” “The Encounter”), and Mission: Unattainable (“The Thoughts of Stefan Miklos”). In 1993, he directed the pilot episode to Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and served as one of many govt producers on that present. He was nominated for an Emmy a number of instances for guiding episodes of Lois, Remington Steele (which he co-created), and gained one for the pilot of The Blue Knight. His closing episode of directed TV was for the 2001 Lifetime collection The Division.
He was equally busy in movies, having directed many theatrical or made-for-TV films like 1975’s Unusual New World, 1969’s The Laptop Wore Tennis Sneakers, and 1988’s Out of Time. In 2015, the Administrators Guild of America granted him a Lifetime Achievement Award for tv route.
“Robert Butler was an adoring father, grandfather, uncle, good friend and trainer, who shared his zeal for movie, jazz, books, tennis, and mannequin rocket,” his family wrote. “Annual household holidays to La Jolla and the California desert have been an essential household custom. He by no means went anyplace with out his Pentax digital camera loaded with Kodak Tri-X movie.”
“Few Administrators have modified the face of tv as a lot as Bob did—his affect on the medium is actually immeasurable and this loss to our Guild is deeply felt,” wrote the DGA in its personal assertion. “Comfortable in any style, Bob’s pilots established the feel and appear of a number of seminal collection together with Hogan’s Heroes, Batman and Star Trek. […] Bob’s legacy will stay on within the reminiscences of the various Administrators he influenced and mentored, and the numerous viewers who laughed and cheered alongside along with his distinctive work. Our deepest condolences to his household and the various Administrators and directorial crew members who knew and beloved him.”
Butler’s household has invited others to ship their condolence here.
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