Dean Butler was born May 20, 1956, in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, is an American movie and television actor and producer of entertainment, sports and documentary programming.
Raised in Piedmont, California, he studied Communication Arts at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
His career as an actor started with a small part on the TV series The Streets of San Francisco. His first major role was opposite Stephanie Zimbalist in the 1978 TV movie Forever, based on Judy Blume’s novel of the same title.
Butler is best known for his portrayal of Almanzo Wilder opposite Melissa Gilbert's Laura Ingalls on the NBC family drama Little House on the Prairie, which was based on the classic Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. After Little House he played Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin in the TV series The New Gidget opposite Caryn Richman and Buffy’s dad, Hank Summers, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
During the 1980s and '90s Butler was a frequent guest-star on TV series including Murder, She Wrote, Who's the Boss?, The Love Boat and JAG. He co-starred with the late Gary Coleman in The Kid with the 200 I.Q.. On the big screen Butler starred in the critically acclaimed Desert Hearts and later in The Final Goal with Erik Estrada (CHiPs) and Michael John Lapointe, directed by Jon Cassar (24).
On the stage Dean enjoyed performing in the shows of Stephen Sondheim. He appeared on Broadway in the original company of Into the Woods as Rapunzal's Prince, internationally as Tony in West Side Story and regionally in Company with Carol Burnett.
Today Butler works largely behind the camera producing entertainment, sports and documentary programming for broadcast, DVD bonus content and increasing amounts of web content that has earned him multiple Telly and Aurora Awards. Dean is also a West Coast correspondent for Broadway World, the world’s premiere provider of web content about the performing arts.
He still is firmly connected to the world of Little House and Laura Ingalls Wilder, having produced nearly five hours of bonus features for Little House on the Prairie DVD collections as well as two documentaries, Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy Of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura. In 2011-12 Dean produced the critically acclaimed Feherty series for Golf Channel featuring the multi-talented host David Feherty.
In June of 2012 PBS will premiere a National Pledge Special entitled Pa's Fiddle: The Music of America which was executive produced by Dean Butler, Richard Okie and Tony Tiano. The program features great American music written about by Laura Ingalls Wilder in her Little House books performed by Randy Travis, Rodney Atkins, Ronnie Milsap, Natalie Grant, Ashton Shepherd, The Roys and Committed under the musical direction of Randy Scruggs. The show was performed in front of live audience at the Loveless Barn in Nashville, TN. It was produced by Tisha Fein and Jillian Ellis and directed by Ryan Polito. The DVD and CD of the performance will be released by Compass Records.
Dean Butler is married to the actress Katherine Cannon, who played Felice Martin on the television series Beverly Hills 90210. They met when Cannon successfully auditioned for a role in the series Father Murphy, created and produced by Michael Landon. They live in Los Angeles, California.
Famous quotes containing the words dean and/or butler:
“Confession, alas, is the new handshake.”
—Richard Dean Rosen (b. 1949)
“You call it passion,
Consideration, generosity;
But it was all deceit, and flattery
To win a woman in her own despite,
For love is war, and there is hatred in it....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)