Frank Russell Butler (December 28, 1889 — June 10, 1967) was an American

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

and later an award-winning

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to parents Frederick Butler and Sarah Ann Hedges. His son, Hugo Butler, also became a Hollywood screenwriter.

Career

Theatre

His theatre career included two appearances (1920s–1930s) in Broadway-theatre productions in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Film work

Butler's film career started with

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s in the early 1920s. He appeared in almost fifty films and wrote more than sixty

screenplays ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

. This included the 1937 film ''

Champagne Waltz ''Champagne Waltz'' is a 1937 American comedy film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Gladys Swarthout, Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie. It is one of five movies produced by Paramount in the 1930s featuring Swarthout, a very popular Me ...

''.

Awards

He co-won, with Frank Cavett, the

Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with th ...

for the film '' Going My Way'' (1944). Butler had earlier been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) twice in the same year, for '' Road to Morocco'' and ''Wake Island'', both released in 1942.

Partial filmography

* ''

Behold My Wife! Behold is an American brand of furniture polish produced by Nakoma Products, LLC. Behold furniture polish and Endust dusting aid were previously produced by Sara Lee. When Drackett was sold to S. C. Johnson & Son in 1992, these two products, End ...

'' (1920) (acted) * '' The Great Moment'' (1921) (acted) * '' The Sheik'' (1921) (acted) * '' Beyond the Rocks'' (1922) (acted) * '' A Tailor-Made Man'' (1922) (acted) * '' My American Wife'' (1922) (acted) * '' The Tiger's Claw'' (1923) (acted) * ''

The Call of the Wild ''The Call of the Wild'' is a short adventure novel by Jack London, published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named ...

'' (1923) (acted) * ''

Satan in Sables ''Satan in Sables'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by James Flood and starring Lowell Sherman and Pauline Garon. It was produced and released by Warner Brothers. Cast Preservation status A print of ''Satan in Sables'' surviv ...

'' (1925) (acted) * '' Made for Love'' (1926) (acted) * ''

30 Below Zero ''30 Below Zero'' is a 1926 American drama film directed by Robert P. Kerr and Lambert Hillyer and written by John Stone. The film stars Buck Jones, Eva Novak, Paul Panzer, E. J. Ratcliffe, Frank Butler and Harry Woods. The film was released ...

'' (1926) * ''

The Honorable Mr. Buggs ''The Honorable Mr. Buggs'' is a 1927 American silent comedy film featuring Anna May Wong and Oliver Hardy. This film is held by a private owner. Plot Cast * Matt Moore as Mr. Buggs * Anna May Wong as Baroness Stoloff * Sōjin Kamiyama as ...

'' (1927) * ''

Flying Elephants ''Flying Elephants'' is a two-reel silent film from 1928 directed by Frank Butler and produced by Hal Roach. It stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as a pair of battling cavemen. Plot The film takes place in the Stone Age, where the King of the ...

'' (1928) (directed) * '' The Big Killing'' (1928) * '' Just Married'' (1928) * ''

China Bound ''China Bound'' is a 1929 silent film comedy produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A rarely revived comedy due to some of its Asian racial content, a selected scene was shown in Robert Youngson's 1965 ''MGM's Big Parade of Comedy''. P ...

'' (1929) * '' Untamed'' (1929) * '' Strictly Unconventional'' (1930) * ''

Those Three French Girls ''Those Three French Girls '' is a 1930 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Fifi D'Orsay, Reginald Denny, and Cliff Edwards. The dialogue was written by P. G. Wodehouse.Remote Control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such ...

'' (1930) * ''

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar ecl ...

'' (1930) * ''

This Modern Age ''This Modern Age'' is a 1931 American pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film directed by Nick Grinde and starring Joan Crawford, Neil Hamilton, Pauline Frederick and Albert Conti. Plot Socialite Valentine "Val" Winters (Joan Crawford) is ...

'' (1931) * '' When a Feller Needs a Friend'' (1932) * '' College Humor'' (1933) * '' Search for Beauty'' (1934) * '' Babes in Toyland'' (1934) * '' Vagabond Lady'' (1935) * '' Coronado'' (1935) * ''

Strike Me Pink "Strike Me Pink" is a song by American singer-songwriter Debbie Harry, released in 1993 as the second single from her fourth solo album, '' Debravation'' (1993). The song was written by Harry, Anne Dudley and Jonathan Bernstein, and produced by ...

'' (1936) * '' The Milky Way'' (1936) * ''

The Bohemian Girl ''The Bohemian Girl'' is an Irish Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La Gitanilla''. The best-known aria from the piece is "I Dreamt I D ...

'' (1936) * ''

The Princess Comes Across ''The Princess Comes Across'' is a 1936 mystery/ comedy film directed by William K. Howard and starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, the second of the four times they were paired together. Lombard, playing an actress from Brooklyn pretend ...

'' (1936) * ''

'' (1937) * ''

Waikiki Wedding ''Waikiki Wedding'' is a 1937 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, and Shirley Ross. Crosby plays the part of Tony Marvin, a PR man charged with extolling the virtues of the Territory ...

'' (1937) * ''

Paris Honeymoon ''Paris Honeymoon'' is a 1939 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman. The film stars Bing Crosby, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Shirley Ross, Edward Everett Horton and Ben Blue. Filming took ...

'' (1939) * '' Never Say Die'' (1939) * '' The Star Maker'' (1939) * '' Road to Singapore'' (1940) * ''

I Want a Divorce ''I Want a Divorce'' is a 1940 Paramount film directed by Ralph Murphy. The screenplay was written by Frank Butler (based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns). The film starred then-married actors Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, who would later ...

'' (1940) * ''

Rangers of Fortune ''Rangers of Fortune'' is a 1940 American Western film directed by Sam Wood. The plot revolves around three heroes, played by Fred MacMurray, Albert Dekker, and Gilbert Roland, as they battle a ruthless land baron who is intent on driving out s ...

'' (1940) * '' Road to Zanzibar'' (1941) * '' Aloma of the South Seas'' (1941) * '' My Favorite Blonde'' (1942) * '' Beyond the Blue Horizon'' (1942) * ''

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...

'' (1942) * '' Road to Morocco'' (1942) * ''

Hostages A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or r ...

'' (1943) * '' Going My Way'' (1944) * ''

A Medal for Benny ''A Medal for Benny'' is a 1945 American film directed by Irving Pichel. The story was conceived by writer Jack Wagner, who enlisted his long-time friend John Steinbeck to help him put it into script form. The film was released by Paramount Pictu ...

'' (1945) * ''

Incendiary Blonde ''Incendiary Blonde'' is a 1945 American musical drama film biography of 1920s nightclub star Texas Guinan. Filmed in Technicolor by director George Marshall and loosely based on a true story, the picture stars actress Betty Hutton as Guinan. The ...

'' (1945) * ''

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

'' (1947) * ''

Welcome Stranger The Welcome Stranger is the biggest alluvial gold nugget that has ever been found, which had a calculated refined weight of .Potter, Terry F. (1999) ''The Welcome Stranger: a definitive account of the worlds largest alluvial gold nugget''. I ...

'' (1947) * '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1947) * ''

Golden Earrings ''Golden Earrings'' is a 1947 romantic spy film made by Paramount Pictures and starring Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich. It was directed by Mitchell Leisen and produced by Harry Tugend from a screenplay by Frank Butler, Helen Deutsch and Ab ...

'' (1947) * ''

Whispering Smith ''Whispering Smith'' is a 1948 American Western film directed by Leslie Fenton and starring Alan Ladd as a railroad detective assigned to stop a gang of train robbers. The supporting cast includes Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall and Donald C ...

'' (1948) * '' Road to Bali'' (1952) * ''

Strange Lady in Town ''Strange Lady in Town'' is a 1955 American Western film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Greer Garson. She plays a doctor who plans to introduce modern techniques of medicine to old Santa Fe in 1880, but is opposed by an established docto ...

'' (1955)

References

External links

* * 1880s births 1967 deaths American male film actors American male screenwriters American male silent film actors American male stage actors Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners 20th-century American male actors British emigrants to the United States 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-theat-actor-1890s-stub