Biography
Wilmer Cable Butler (April 7, 1921 – April 5, 2023) was an American cinematographer who was known for his work on The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975), and three Rocky sequels. Butler also completed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) after Haskell Wexler was fired from the production, and was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Known For
Complete Filmography

TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR
2023
Camera Technician
A concert film documenting Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour (2023-2024). Filmed during the Los Angeles shows, the film captures the tour's ten...

The Making of 'Rocky vs. Drago'
2021
as Self (archive photos)
Fight alongside Sylvester Stallone as he creates a brand-new director's cut of Rocky IV: ROCKY VS. DRAGO. This feature-length documentary offers a per...

Spielberg
2017
as Self
A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

The Fabulous Allan Carr
2017
as Self
Armed with a limitless Rolodex and a Benedict Canyon enclave with its own disco, Allan Carr threw the Hollywood parties that defined the 1970s. A prod...

The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of "Jaws"
2009
as Self
After three decades, Jaws continues to intrigue, thrill and frighten viewers. This documentary focuses on the many ways in which Jaws has helped to sh...

Evil Angel
2009
Director of Photography
Set in present day Chicago, the ancient avenging demon Lilith, attempts to destroy a young paramedic's life while destroying anyone who interferes wit...

Limousine
2008
Director of Photography
A young female limo driver meets a young male hooker who says he just accidentally killed his "John". They drive around the city looking for the clien...

Redline
2007
Director of Photography
A gorgeous young automobile fanatic--and front to the hottest unsigned band on the West coast--finds herself caught up in illegal drag-racing competit...

The Plague
2006
Director of Photography
Ten years have passed since the world's children fell into a coma. Tonight they're waking up and all hell is breaking loose. An unholy battle between ...

Cinematographer Style
2006
as Self
110 of the world's top cinematographers discuss the art of how and why films look the way they do.

Funny Money
2006
Director of Photography
Henry Perkins, a mild-mannered accountant, accidentally trades briefcases with another man, to find out that there's a million dollars inside. Henry t...

Frailty
2002
Director of Photography
A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to k...

Joe and Max
2002
Director of Photography
True story of boxers Joe Louis and Max Schmeling and their enduring friendship.

Hendrix
2000
Director of Photography
Biography of rock star Jimi Hendrix chronicles his early career, including a stint with Little Richard who fired him for getting too flamboyant, to hi...

Passing Glory
1999
Director of Photography
A true story of a priest (Andre Braugher) in New Orleans who formed a group of black players and challenged an all-white prep school basketball team i...

Don King: Only in America
1997
Director of Photography
A cinematic portrait of the famous fight promoter and boxing manager.

Deceiver
1997
Director of Photography
The gruesome death of a prostitute brings suspicion on one of her clients, James Wayland, a brilliant, self-destructive and epileptic heir to a textil...

Anaconda
1997
Director of Photography
A 'National Geographic' film crew is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who takes them along on his quest to capture the world's largest — and deadlie...

Dark Skies
1996
Cinematography
In 1960s America, a young couple struggle to expose the truth about a hidden alien invasion, while a secret government organization follows its own ag...

Flipper
1996
Director of Photography
Sandy Ricks is sent by his mom to Coral Key, a rustic island in the Florida keys, to spend the summer with his uncle Porter Ricks. Sandy dislikes ever...

The Making of 'Jaws'
1995
as Self
A documentary on the making of one of the greatest films ever made, filled with trivia, interviews from cast and crew and never-before-seen footage.

A Walton Wedding
1995
Director of Photography
In 1964, John-Boy Walton is planning his wedding to Janet Gilchrist, the editor of a New York fashion magazine and the daughter of a diplomat. The two...

Beethoven's 2nd
1993
Director of Photography
Beethoven is back -- and this time, he has a whole brood with him now that he's met his canine match, Missy, and fathered a family. The only problem i...

Cop & ½
1993
Director of Photography
When a pint-sized 8-year-old kid witnesses a murder he offers to help the police, if they make him a cop, too. Saddled with this streetwise sidekick, ...

Sniper
1993
Director of Photography
Tough guy Thomas Beckett is an US soldier working in the Panamanian jungle. His job is to seek out rebels and remove them using his sniper skills. Bec...

Visions of Light
1992
as Self
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips fr...

Hot Shots!
1991
Director of Photography
The gang that created Airplane and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this often hilarious spoof starring Charlie Sheen, who previously only ...

Graffiti Bridge
1990
Director of Photography
It's got that Purple Rain feeling through and though. And it's got The Kid, too! For the first time since Purple Rain, Prince is back as The Kid. And ...

When We Were Young
1989
Director of Photography
A group of young people in 1959 get ready to set out on their journey to adulthood.

Child's Play
1988
Director of Photography
An innocent-looking doll is inhabited by the soul of a serial killer who refuses to die.

Wildfire
1988
Director of Photography
Since they met the first time in boarding school as little kids, it was obvious that the orphans Kay and Dave would become a couple. But at sixteen, D...

Biloxi Blues
1988
Director of Photography
Eugene, an aspiring writer from Brooklyn, is drafted into the US Army during the final months of World War II. For his basic training, the Army sends ...

Bates Motel
1987
Director of Photography
A mentally disturbed man, who roomed with the late Norman Bates at a psychiatric facility, inherits the infamous Bates Motel after his death and attem...

Big Trouble
1986
Director of Photography
Leonard Hoffman is an insurance salesman struggling to make ends meet. The fact that he has triplet sons who all want to go to Yale isn't making thing...

Rocky IV
1985
Director of Photography
After Apollo Creed is killed by Ivan Drago in a match, Rocky Balboa becomes depressed and becomes determined to get revenge.

Beer
1985
Director of Photography
An advertising firm, desperate to keep an account from a financially-ailing brewery, concocts a macho ad campaign centering on three losers who inadve...

A Streetcar Named Desire
1984
Director of Photography
As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unfo...

The Sting II
1983
Director of Photography
Hooker and Gondorf pull a con on Macalinski, an especially nasty mob boss with the help of Veronica, a new grifter. They convince this new victim that...

Rocky III
1982
Director of Photography
After an intense fight with Clubber Lang and the death of his trainer Mickey, Rocky Balboa is left devastated. Former rival Apollo Creed steps in to h...

Killing at Hell's Gate
1981
Director of Photography
A whitewater rafting party is terrorized by a group of loggers who, after accidentally killing one of the rafters in a drunken session of target pract...

Stripes
1981
Director of Photography
John Winger, an indolent sad sack in his 30s, impulsively joins the US Army after losing his job, his girlfriend and his apartment.

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
1981
Director of Photography
An aspiring country singer and his feisty younger sister/manager struggle to reach their dreams of Nashville stardom-as long as she can keep her broth...

Death Ray 2000
1981
Director of Photography
A flamboyant secret agent from UNIT, a secret counterespionage group, teams with a lady spy to retrieve a stolen device capable of destroying the worl...

It's My Turn
1980
Director of Photography
A successful but stressed mathematics professor goes to her father's wedding and falls in love with her father's bride's son, a prematurely retired pr...

Can't Stop the Music
1980
Director of Photography
A loose biography of seminal disco hit-makers The Village People and their composer Jacques Morali.

Rocky II
1979
Director of Photography
After Rocky goes the distance with champ Apollo Creed, both try to put the fight behind them and move on. Rocky settles down with Adrian but can't put...

Ice Castles
1978
Director of Photography
Alexis is on top of the world until a tragic accident dashes her hopes and dreams of becoming a world-class figure skater. Only with the help of those...

Grease
1978
Director of Photography
Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, wi...

Damien - Omen II
1978
Director of Photography
Since the sudden and suspicious deaths of his parents, young Damien has been in the charge of his wealthy aunt and uncle and enrolled in a military sc...

Uncle Joe Shannon
1978
Director of Photography
A trumpet player, self-destructive after the death of his wife and child in a fire, befriends a crippled youngster and together they battle obstacles ...

Capricorn One
1977
Director of Photography
In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing....

Demon Seed
1977
Director of Photography
A scientist creates Proteus, an organic supercomputer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the cre...

Mary White
1977
Director of Photography
The true story of the relationship between famed author William Allen White and his teenaged daughter Mary, who died in a horseback-riding accident at...

Raid on Entebbe
1976
Director of Photography
Based on a true operation by Israeli commandos. An Air France flight is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The airplane la...

Alex & the Gypsy
1976
Director of Photography
A bail bondsman falls in love with one of his "customers" — a gypsy girl, who's been accused of attempted murder.

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
1976
Director of Photography
Top baseball pitcher Bingo Long is fed up with how his Negro League team owner treats him, so he forms his own lineup, recruiting big-hitting Leon Car...

Lipstick
1976
Director of Photography
An aspiring avant-garde composer rapes a fashion model. When she takes him to court, she's slut-shamed by the defense and the man is exonerated. But j...

Fear on Trial
1975
Director of Photography
The story of John Henry Faulk, a radio/TV personality of the 1950s, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Faulk sued the organization that was ...

Jaws
1975
Director of Photography
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, ...

The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
1975
Director of Photography
Film noir parody with a private eye trying to solve the murder of his milkman.

Hustling
1975
Director of Photography
Based on Gail Sheehy's book, this film chronicles how a reporter for a New York City magazine decided to investigate the city's prostitution industry ...

Target Risk
1975
Director of Photography
A professional courier's girlfriend is abducted, and the kidnappers threaten to kill her unless the courier helps them fake a diamond robbery.

Vampira
1974
Editor
In order to revive his long hibernating bride, Vampira, Count Dracula takes blood samples from several beautiful models, but during the transfusion, V...

The Conversation
1974
Director of Photography
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

The Execution of Private Slovik
1974
Director of Photography
The story of Eddie Slovik, who was executed by the Army in 1945, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.

Indict and Convict
1974
Director of Photography
A prosecutor must try his friend, a deputy district attorney, who has been charged with murdering his wife and her lover.

I Heard the Owl Call My Name
1973
Director of Photography
A young priest named mark is sent as a vicar to a native American village in B.C. Canada, there he learns of faith and humanity, as he watches their c...

Sunshine
1973
Director of Photography
A young woman living in the woods with her husband, a struggling musician, and her young daughter, discovers she has terminal cancer. She begins to ta...

Deliver Us from Evil
1973
Director of Photography
Several men hiking in the mountains discover an injured skyjacker who parachuted from a plane with $600,000. They kill him, then start fighting each o...

Running Wild
1973
Director of Photography
A photographer travels to the stunning vistas of Colorado and becomes involved in an effort to save a herd of wild horses.

Savage
1973
Director of Photography
A TV reporter investigates compromising photographs of a nominee to the Supreme Court.

Hickey & Boggs
1972
Director of Photography
Two veteran private eyes trigger a criminal reign of terror with their search for a missing girl. | Al Hickey (Cosby) & Frank Boggs (Culp) are two ja...

Deliverance
1972
Second Unit Director of Photography
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip...

Deathmaster
1972
Director of Photography
A mysterious, charismatic stranger attracts a cult-like following of aimless young hippies, only to reveal himself to be a vampire.

Melinda
1972
Director of Photography
A slick, smooth-talking, womanizing young black DJ falls hard for an enigmatic woman he's just met. Things take a turn for the worse, though, when she...

Something Evil
1972
Director of Photography
A young couple moves into a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. What they don't know is that there is an unseen presence in the house, and that it wants ...

The Return of Count Yorga
1971
Director of Photography
Count Yorga continues to prey on the local community while living by a nearby orphanage. He also intends to take a new wife, while feeding his bevy of...

Drive, He Said
1971
Director of Photography
Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards. His girlfriend, Olive, doesn't know whether to stay wit...

A Clear and Present Danger
1970
Director of Photography
The son of a U.S. Senator takes on the cause of clean air when a friend dies of emphysema.

Adam's Woman
1970
Director of Photography
Adam is a young American wrongly accused of being an accomplice to murder while on shore leave in Liverpool. He is sentenced to death by hanging but t...

Fearless Frank
1969
Director of Photography
A country boy arrives in Chicago, gets killed by some gangsters, and returns to life with superhuman powers in this satirical look at movie genres.

The Rain People
1969
Director of Photography
When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.

A Space to Grow
1968
Cinematography
A Space to Grow is a 1968 American short documentary film produced by Thomas P. Kelly Jr.. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary ...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1966
Sound Editor
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.

The Bold Men
1965
Cinematography
A documentary about men who are courageous enough to risk their lives undertaking challenges, sports-related and not, that are at the limit of human c...

Star Trek: The Cage
1965
Assistant Camera
The first pilot episode of Star Trek. Led by Captain Christopher Pike, the crew of the starship Enterprise investigates of a far-off planet which was ...

The People vs. Paul Crump
1962
Director of Photography
An impassioned plea for the release of a young man sentenced to die in an Illinois prison.