- Michael Zinberg credits Butler with having the ruthless, adventurous, innovative vision that produced the powerful pilot episode of Capitaine Furillo (1981) that sold NBC, and network president Fred Silverman on green-lighting this landmark urban-cop series.
- As of March 2023 he is the last surviving credited person (in this case, as director) of the original Star Trek (1966) pilot episode 'The Cage' (filmed in 1964). All of the credited cast and crew have passed away.
- Graduate of University High School (Los Angeles) and UCLA.
- He played the trombone, and as a teenager, he was a musician in the band on Hoagy Carmichael's live NBC Radio variety show.
- His father was an insurance adjuster and his mother a schoolteacher.
- Recipient of the DGA's inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in Television Direction in 2015.
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