David Butler

Beginning his career as an actor onscreen and onstage, David Butler spent the majority of his four-decade career as a director, working in both television and film, most notably on the classic family comedy series "Leave It to Beaver." Butler often produced and wrote the scripts for his films and was considered a hard-working, blue collar-type director. While working under contract for Fox, Butler was prolific, directing over 30 films in a nine-year span, including the 1934 dramedy "Bright Eyes." Butler collaborated numerous times with actor Bing Crosby, including on the adventure film "Road to Morocco" and the musical "If I Had My Way." Late in his career Butler primarily worked directing television episodes, mainly for the classic family show "Leave It to Beaver" and the Western series "The Deputy." Through the 1920s Butler acted frequently, alternating between the stage and screen, appearing in two of legendary director D.W. Griffith's World War I dramas--"The Greatest Thing in Life" and "The Girl Who Stayed at Home"--as well as the Academy Award-winning romance "7th Heaven" in 1927. Butler died of heart failure at the age of 84.