David Butler

David Butler

Born: December 16, 1894
Died: June 14, 1979
in San Francisco, California, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Butler (December 17, 1894 – June 14, 1979) was an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and television director.

Butler was born in San Francisco, California. His mother was an actress and his father was a theater stage manager. His first acting roles were playing extras in stage plays. He later appeared in two D. W. Griffith films, The Girl Who Stayed Home and The Greatest Thing in Life. He also appeared in the 1927 Academy-Award winning film 7th Heaven.

The same year, Butler made his directorial debut with High School Hero, a comedy for Fox. During Butler's nine-year tenure at Fox, he directed over thirty films, including four Shirley Temple vehicles. Butler's last film for Fox, Kentucky, won Walter Brennan an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Butler worked with Bing Crosby in Road to Morocco and If I Had My Way. He directed many films starring Doris Day, among them It's a Great Feeling, Tea for Two, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris, and Calamity Jane.

During the late '50s and 1960s, Butler directed primarily television episodes, mainly for Leave It to Beaver and Wagon Train.

For his contributions to the film industry, Butler was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star located at 6561 Hollywood Boulevard.

Movies for David Butler...

It's a Great Feeling
Title: It's a Great Feeling
Character: David Butler (uncredited)
Released: August 1, 1949
Type: Movie
A waitress at the Warner Brothers commissary is anxious to break into pictures. She thinks her big break may have arrived when actors Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan agree to help her.
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Salute
Title: Salute
Character: Navy Coach
Released: September 1, 1929
Type: Movie
A comedy-romance about rival brothers attending a military academy.
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The Rush Hour
Title: The Rush Hour
Character: William Finch
Released: December 12, 1927
Type: Movie
Margie Dolan dreams of endless pleasure and adventures abroad, while her sweetheart, Dan Morley, is devoted to his drugstore business and his eventual marriage to Margie. When the horrors of commuting become unendurable Margie boards an ocean liner on a business errand and decides to stowaway. She is soon discovered and is put to work in the linen room. Dunrock and Yvonne, an unscrupulous pair plan to relieve a millionaire called Finch of his fortune. They hire Margie to be an unwitting romantic companion to Finch to make their job that much easier!
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Should Second Husbands Come First?
Title: Should Second Husbands Come First?
Character: The Widow's Older Son
Released: October 23, 1927
Type: Movie
A woman's two sons pretend to be insane in order to de-rail their mother's plans to remarry.
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7th Heaven
Title: 7th Heaven
Character: Gobin
Released: September 10, 1927
Type: Movie
A dejected Parisian sewer worker feels his prayers have been answered when he falls in love with a street waif.
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Nobody's Widow
Title: Nobody's Widow
Character: Ned Stevens
Released: January 12, 1927
Type: Movie
Roxanna is married to British official John Clayton, but when she catches John in the apparent embrace of another woman, Roxanna leaves England and goes to visit her friend Betty in America. There she tells people that her 'beloved' husband is dead. Betty's friends take to Roxanna, especially Ned, for whom Betty has strong feelings. Further complications arrive in the presence of John Clayton, who has followed Roxanna and now pretends to be the Duke of Morebay and another potential suitor for 'widowed' Roxanna.
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The Quarterback
Title: The Quarterback
Character: 'Lumpy' Goggins
Released: October 11, 1926
Type: Movie
Elmer Stone, quarterback of the 1899 Colton College football team vows to remain a student until Colton beats its biggest rival, State University. Twenty-seven years later, Elmer is still in school and is a classmate of his son, Jack. Other than driving a milk wagon in his spare time, Jack is also the quarterback of the football team. A matter of his eligibility comes up but he is cleared and goes out to do-or-die for Colton against State University. Maybe they will win The Big Game, and Jack's father can get a life...and a job.
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Womanpower
Title: Womanpower
Character: Mallory
Released: September 19, 1926
Type: Movie
Womanpower (1926)
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The Blue Eagle
Title: The Blue Eagle
Character: Nick 'Dizzy' Galvani
Released: September 12, 1926
Type: Movie
Waterfront rivals George Darcy and Big Tim Ryan are both in love with Rose Kelly, and continue their feud when they join the Navy. After the war, they call a temporary truce to take on dope peddlers who are destroying their neighborhood.
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Oh, Baby!
Title: Oh, Baby!
Released: August 7, 1926
Type: Movie
Billy, a diminutive manager of prizefighters, is priming Jim Stone for the heavyweight championship when Charley Burns (Arthur Graham?) discloses that for the past 8 years he has invented a mythical wife and daughter for the benefit of his Aunt Phoebe, who now requests a visit from them. He finally persuades Billy to pose as his daughter, Evangeline, while Miss Brennan, a magazine writer, consents to take the role of his wife.
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The Plastic Age
Title: The Plastic Age
Character: James Henley
Released: December 15, 1925
Type: Movie
Hugh Carver is an athletic star and a freshman at Prescott College. He falls in love with Cynthia Day, a popular girl who loves to party, and finds that it's impossible to please her and still keep up with his studies and athletic training. Soon the two face some difficult decisions.
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His Majesty, Bunker Bean
Title: His Majesty, Bunker Bean
Character: Bud Matthews
Released: September 14, 1925
Type: Movie
His Majesty, Bunker Bean is a 1925 silent film comedy directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Matt Moore. It is based on a 1916 play, His Majesty, Bunker Bean by Lee Wilson Dodd, taken from a novel Bunker Bean by Harry Leon Wilson. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers.
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Tracked in the Snow Country
Title: Tracked in the Snow Country
Character: Terry Moulton
Released: July 13, 1925
Type: Movie
When Rin-Tin-Tin's master is found murdered, Rinty is accused of the crime.
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Code of the West
Title: Code of the West
Character: Bid Hatfield
Released: April 6, 1925
Type: Movie
Code of the West (1925)
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The Narrow Street
Title: The Narrow Street
Character: Ray Wyeth
Released: January 4, 1925
Type: Movie
Simon Haldane works in the office of the Faulkner Iron Works, but he has been raised by his two maiden aunts in an extremely sheltered manner and is basically afraid of everyone and everything. One morning he finds a strange girl shivering in his bedroom, and although he's terrified of her, he manages to call a doctor for her. This starts a rumor that Simon is married. Complications ensue.
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The Arizona Express
Title: The Arizona Express
Character: Steve Butler
Released: March 23, 1924
Type: Movie
A man is framed for the murder of his uncle, a bank president, and sentenced to hang. His sister and a mail clerk who's helping her discover information that may clear him, but they have to get to the governor in time to present their new evidence and get a stay of execution.
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Hoodman Blind
Title: Hoodman Blind
Character: Jack Yeulette
Released: December 20, 1923
Type: Movie
It is a remake of a 1913 film of the same name directed by James Gordon and a 1916 William Farnum Fox feature titled A Man of Sorrow and based on the play Hoodman Blind.
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The Temple of Venus
Title: The Temple of Venus
Character: Nat Harper
Released: November 11, 1923
Type: Movie
Venus, the Goddess of Love (Celeste Lee) sends Cupid to Earth to look for romance.
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Cause for Divorce
Title: Cause for Divorce
Character: Tom Parker
Released: October 6, 1923
Type: Movie
David Butler and Fritzi Brunette star in this melodrama about an agricultural student whose wife longs for life in the city.
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Mary of the Movies
Title: Mary of the Movies
Character: David Butler (uncredited)
Released: May 27, 1923
Type: Movie
Mary's kid brother needs an operation and, in order to pay for it, Mary goes to a Hollywood studio and applies for a job as an actress. Mary is given a job as a waitress in the commissary, and gets to meet 40 actors, actresses and directors, none of whom tip big enough to enable Mary to earn enough money to pay for an operation. Will Mary become an actress and make some big money?
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Poor Men's Wives
Title: Poor Men's Wives
Character: Jim Maherne
Released: January 28, 1923
Type: Movie
Drama of two girls who married into different layers of society.
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The Fog
Title: The Fog
Character: Si Plumb
Released: January 18, 1923
Type: Movie
Silent World War I (WWI) romantic melodrama (based on the novel by William Dudley Pelly) .
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The Village Blacksmith
Title: The Village Blacksmith
Character: Bill Hammond
Released: November 1, 1922
Type: Movie
(survived only 10 minutes) As young men, the squire (Marshall) and the village blacksmith (Walling) are in love with the same woman (Boardman), whom the blacksmith marries. This angers the squire. Years later, the squire's son Anson (Yearsley) dares the blacksmith's son Johnnie (Hackathorne) to climb a tree, from which he falls and is crippled. As adults, Anson and the blacksmith's daughter Alice (Valli) fall in love, which angers the blacksmith, who chastises his daughter. The blacksmith's other son Bill (Butler) returns from college and is injured in a train accident. Anson steals $480 from a church fund which is currently in Alice's possession. Alice is struck by lightning. The blacksmith take Anson and the squire to church where they both repent.
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According to Hoyle
Title: According to Hoyle
Character: "Boxcar" Simmons
Released: May 6, 1922
Type: Movie
"'Boxcar' Simmons, a tramp, represents himself as a mining millionaire in a small town. The population accepts him at his own valuation, and two of the town's 'slickers' make desperate efforts to 'take him for his roll.' One of their schemes is to sell him a worthless ranch, but he turns the tables on them by making them believe that the ranch is a veritable bed of silver ore, and then, after they buy it, he presents the major part of the proceeds to the girl who owns the place and with whom he had fallen in love." (Moving Picture World, 24 Jun 1922, p. 736.)
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The Sky Pilot
Title: The Sky Pilot
Character: Bill Hendricks
Released: April 16, 1921
Type: Movie
Arthur Moore, a missionary preacher, attempts to fit into the cowboy community so he can set up a church in the local saloon. Gwen, daughter of the "Old Timer," is injured in a stampede and loses her ability to walk. Though rejected by the townsfolk, the preacher's wisdom and love are needed if the young girl is to be healed. Shot in 'Vidor Village', Vidor's ill-fated studio property in California's High Sierra.
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The County Fair
Title: The County Fair
Character: Joel Bartlett
Released: September 5, 1920
Type: Movie
"The County Fair" begins with a nasty rich guy threatening to turn an old lady onto the street--unless her niece (who lives with her) marries this man's son. While she's dead set against it, the niece is a sweet thing and would do anything to help her aunt--even marry the rich jerk. However, a possible way out is presented. When a poor young man is taken in and fed, he turns out (naturally) to be a jockey and thinks he can win the $3000 prize at the fair and save the farm.
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Fickle Women
Title: Fickle Women
Character: Calvin Price
Released: August 9, 1920
Type: Movie
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The Triflers
Title: The Triflers
Released: January 12, 1920
Type: Movie
Janet Randall, a department store clerk who longs for a fling at high society, ignores the love of the poor but honest Dan Cassidy. When vacation time comes, Janet goes to a fashionable hotel and there meets her idol, society favorite Monte Moreville. Upon requesting the bill at the end of four days, Janet discovers that the tariff is more than she can afford, and Monte comes to her rescue by offering to bail her out. In exchange, Janet must pose as his wife to fend off a woman who is threatening a breach of promise suit.
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The Pointing Finger
Title: The Pointing Finger
Released: December 1, 1919
Type: Movie
Mary Murphy, the oldest waif in an orphanage, steals a dress and three dollars, then escapes to the city. Grosset, the superintendent of the institution, steals $10,000 on the same night, and Mary is suspected of the theft.
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The Other Half
Title: The Other Half
Character: Cpl. Jimmy
Released: August 18, 1919
Type: Movie
Social drama about a friendship that is pressurized by class differences.
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A Petal on the Current
Title: A Petal on the Current
Character: Ed Kinealy
Released: August 3, 1919
Type: Movie
A shop girl finds herself disgraced after being pressured into drinking too much at a party and getting arrested for public drunkenness.
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Nugget Nell
Title: Nugget Nell
Character: Big Hearted Jim
Released: July 27, 1919
Type: Movie
Big Hearted Jim, the sheriff, loves the tomboyish Nugget Nell ( Dorothy Gish ), who runs a hash house in the mining country, but although she has romantic feelings, they are not aroused by Jim. Nell agrees to an old miner friend's request to care for his "child," Nell is shocked to meet the six-foot girl, but she cares for her just the same. Nell falls in love with the City Chap, out West to look after his mining property, but he barely notices her, having become intrigued by the Ingenue, whom he met on the stagecoach. The jealous Nell steals stylish clothes to allure him, but she has trouble walking in French high-heels.
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Better Times
Title: Better Times
Character: Peter Van Alstyne
Released: July 13, 1919
Type: Movie
Ezra Scroggs is a shiftless gambler who has let his hotel, the Lakeview, fall on hard times. Finally his daughter Nancy gets fed up seeing all the business go to his rival, Si Whittaker at the Majestic, and she decides to do something about it.
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The Girl Who Stayed at Home
Title: The Girl Who Stayed at Home
Character: Johann August Kant
Released: March 23, 1919
Type: Movie
Ralph visits France with his father, a shipbuilder, and falls in love with Blossom, the granddaughter of his father's friend, a Civil war veteran not reconciled with the Union. Blossom, however, is engaged to a French nobleman. When the war breaks out, Ralph enlists, while his brother Jim, a heartbreaker, is drafted.
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The Greatest Thing in Life
Title: The Greatest Thing in Life
Character: Mr. Le Bebe
Released: December 22, 1918
Type: Movie
A lost film. Leo Peret has a small quiet tobacco shop in Greenwich Village. Edward Livingston, a wealthy young clubman and man-about-town, comes in frequently ostensibly to buy cigarettes but in reality to talk to the daughter Jeannette, and he is soon in love with the little shop girl. Leo is homesick for his native France, but lacks the funds to make the passage. Edward, learning of their plight, sends $1,000 with a note saying that the money is payment for a good deed. Leo accepts the money and he and Jeannette embark at once.
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Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Title: Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Character: Babylonian Soldier (uncredited)
Released: September 4, 1916
Type: Movie
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
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The Birth of a Nation
Title: The Birth of a Nation
Character: Northern Soldier / Confederate Soldier
Released: February 8, 1915
Type: Movie
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.