Wilmer C. Butler Dies: Cinematographer Whose Work Included ‘Jaws,’ ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ & ‘The Conversation’ Was 101

Oscar-nominated cinematographer Wilmer C. Butler, whose work included a series of landmark films such as The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), has died. He was 101. The American Society of Cinematographers confirmed Butler’s passing.

Butler was the ASC’s most senior member, and he had a resume to match. He worked with directors such as Philip Kaufman, Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, Richard Donner, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Ivan Reitman, Tobe Hooper, Joseph Sargent, Mike Nichols, John Cassavetes and Steven Spielberg.

Friedkin convinced Butler to be the cinematographer on The People vs. Paul Crump, a documentary about a prisoner slated for execution in Illinois. The project got Crump’s death sentence commuted.

He got his start in features with Kaufman’s 1967 film Fearless Frank. Two years later, Friedkin introduced Butler to Coppola, with whom he shot The Rain People before going on to collaborate with the director on The Conversation and, very nearly, Apocalypse Now. Butler actually turned down the latter as he worked on his own directorial debut, which did not happen.

“I did some work with director Phil Kaufman on the Universal Studios lot as a writer while I was still trying to get into the Los Angeles camera guild,” Butler recalled. “That’s when I met Steven Spielberg.” As with Coppola, Butler’s collaboration with Spielberg would stretch over a series of films, beginning with Something Evil (1972) and Savage (1973). Then came Jaws.

Of their collaboration, Spielberg remembered in a statement to Deadline, “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.”

On that blockbuster, much of which took place on the water, Butler figured out how to use a handheld Panaflex camera and take the roll out of the boat, created a special camera platform that worked with the water to accommodate both “below the water line” and “surface” shots quickly and reconfigured the standard “water box” casing used to protect a camera in the water.

He replaced Haskell Wexler on two occasions: The Conversation and Cuckoo’s Nest, the latter of which saw Butler and Wexler share an Oscar nomination.

Other films on which Butler served as the director of photography include Nicholson’s directorial debut Drive, He Said in 1971, Grease and Ice Castles in 1978 and Rocky II, III and IV. Butler was the cinematographer for Demon Seed (1977), Capricorn One (1978), Stripes (1981), Biloxi Blues (1988), Child’s Play (1988), Graffiti Bridge (1990), Flipper (1996), Anaconda (1997) and Deceiver (1997). His television credits include The Execution of Private Slovik (1974) and The Thorn Birds (1983). He won Primetime Emmys for Raid on Entebbe (1977) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1984).

Butler was honored with the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

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