Bill Butler, Cinematographer on ‘Jaws,’ Dies at 101
Carmel Dagan Emmy-winning cinematographer Bill Butler, who was Oscar nominated for shooting “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and was also the D.P. on “Jaws,” died Wednesday, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He was 101.In addition to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler served as d.p. on a number of other high-profile films of the 1970s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,” “Grease,” “Ice Castles,” Bill Murray comedy hit “Stripes” and several entries in the “Rocky” franchise (but not the original).On both “The Conversation” and “Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler was brought in as replacement for the esteemed cinematographer Haskell Wexler.Butler was also the cinematographer for “Demon Seed” and “Capricorn One” in the ’70s, as well as Neil Simon adaptation “Biloxi Blues” (1988), horror film “Child’s Play” (1988), Prince musical drama “Graffiti Bridge” (1990), “Flipper” (1996), “Anaconda” (1997) and the Pate brothers’ well-regarded 1997 murder mystery film “Deceiver,” starring Tim Roth and Renee Zellweger. Butler worked into the new century, by which time he was in his 80s, shooting Bill Paxton’s critically hailed 2001 crime drama “Frailty” and the 2006 Chevy Chase comedy “Funny Money.”