- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGeorge Tyssen Butler
- George Butler was a director and producer, who created acclaimed documentary features as well as giant screen films including Pumping Iron, The Endurance, Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry and Roving Mars. Butler's films screened at over 30 international film festivals and won honors ranging from National Board of Review Best Documentary of the Year (2001, The Endurance), IDA Best Documentary finalist (1990, In the Blood), the Whitney Biennial (2006, Going Upriver), to National Academy of Science Best Science Film of the Year (2008, Roving Mars). His IMAX® film Roving Mars was produced by Frank Marshall and distributed by Disney around the world. The New York Times called it "the best IMAX movie ever made."- IMDb mini biography by: Tiffany
- SpouseVictoria Leiter (divorced, 2 children)
- Butler is a pioneer of the theatrical documentary, believing that well-crafted documentaries can hold their own against their fiction counterparts.
- He has been a friend of John Kerry's since 1964 and began photographing and documenting his career and life in 1969. This culminated in Butler filming the documentary, Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry (2004). Going Upriver follows Kerry's first political ascension as a leader of the anti-war vets after his return from Vietnam in 1969.
- Mistakenly declared dead by his friend, Charlie Rose, on his PBS Year review show.
- Earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Hollins College, now known as Hollins University.
- Began his career as a stills photographer.
- Butler founded the Oakland Lion, while serving as a VISTA (domestic Peace Corps) member in Detroit.
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