Frank Butler (writer)

Frank Butler
Frank Butler, next to actress Mary Land, in the 1922 film My American Wife.
Born
Frank Russell Butler

(1889-12-28)December 28, 1889
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
DiedJune 10, 1967(1967-06-10) (aged 76)
Oceanside, California, US.
OccupationsActor, screenwriter
Years active1920–1959
Spouses
Margaret Annie Dansey Addis
​
​
(m. 1912, divorced)​
Helen Lue Huntoon
​
​
(m. 1921; div. 1926)​
Ethel Virginia Chapman
​
​
(m. 1927)​

Frank Russell Butler (December 28, 1889 – June 10, 1967) was an English-born American film and theatre actor and screenwriter. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1944 for Going My Way.

Early life

Butler was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, to parents Frederick Butler and Sarah Ann Hedges.

Career

Theatre

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

Film work

Butler's film career started with silent films in the early 1920s. He appeared in almost fifty films and wrote more than sixty screenplays. This included the 1937 film Champagne Waltz.

Herbert Coleman wrote Butler "was known around Paramount as the Story Doctor. He was one of the studio’s most valuable executives. Although Butler was third in pecking order in the story department, after D. A. Doran and Frank Cleaver, his gifted talents touched almost every screenplay that found its way to his desk. And almost every script did, on direct orders from Barney Balaban, president of Paramount."[1]

Personal life

Butler was married three times: first to Margaret Annie Dansey Addis in 1912, which ended in divorce; then Helen Lue Huntoon in 1921, divorced in 1926; and last Virginia Chapman in 1927. His son, Hugo Butler, also became a Hollywood screenwriter.

Awards

Butler co-won, with Frank Cavett, the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film Going My Way (1944).[2] 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

References

  1. ↑ Coleman, Herbert (2007). The Man Who Knew Hitchcock: A Hollywood Memoir. Scarecrow Press. p. 109.
  2. ↑ "The 17th Academy Awards - 1945". Oscars.org. Retrieved May 19, 2021.


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