American television director (1927–2023) who directed The Cage, the first Star Trek pilot, whose footage was later reused as the heart of the two-part episode The Menagerie.
Robert Butler was an American television director who made The Cage, the original Star Trek pilot, filmed at Desilu at the end of 1964 with Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. NBC turned the pilot down but took the unusual step of commissioning a second one.
Most of Butler's footage reached the screen in 1966 when it was built into the two-part episode The Menagerie, on which he shares directing credit with Marc Daniels, who shot the new framing story. The Cage itself was not broadcast in full until 1988.
Butler became known as a specialist in launching series, directing the pilots of Batman, Hogan's Heroes, Hill Street Blues and Moonlighting, and he co-created Remington Steele.