Wilmer C. Butler Dies: Cinematographer Whose Work Included ‘Jaws,’ ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ & ‘The Conversation’ Was 101
06.04.2023 - 22:35
/ deadline.com
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 Philip Kaufman’s 1967 film Fearless Frank. Two years later, Friedkin introduced Butler to Francis Ford 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.
On Jaws, 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”