George Butler

George Tyssen Butler (12 October 1943 – 21 October 2021) was a British filmmaker and photographer, and a pioneer of the theatrical documentary. Some of his most popular films include Pumping Iron (1977), which introduced a wider audience to Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Endurance films, retelling Sir Ernest Shackleton's saga of Antarctic survival, and Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry (2004), about his friend John Kerry's leadership in the peace movement. Butler's films are known for their combination of high artistic, educational and entertainment values, as he believed well-crafted documentaries can hold their own against dramatic features. In addition to his feature-length documentary classics, Butler has also produced acclaimed IMAX features, such as the award-winning Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (2001) and Roving Mars (2006). Early life Born in Chester, England on 12 October 1943, Butler grew up in Somalia, Kenya, and Jamaica, the son of Dorothy (West) and Tyssen Desmond Butler. He was educated at De Carteret College in Jamaica, Groton School, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and received his MA from Hollins College (now Hollins University). His father was a British Army officer and received military training at Sandringham. Butler's mother was a Boston Brahmin socialite. She travelled to Kenya to marry his father during World War II, but due to war secrecy she did not know where exactly she would be meeting him (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3 November 1940).