Dean Butler (born May 20, 1956, in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada) is an Canadian-American movie and television actor and producer of entertainment, sports and documentary programming.

Biography

Raised in Piedmont, California, he studied Communication Arts at the 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 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 on the NBC family drama Little House on the Prairie, which was based on the classic Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. After Little House he played Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin in the TV series The New Gidget and Buffy’s dad, Hank Summers, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

During the 1980s and 1990s Butler was a 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 Desert Hearts and later in The Final Goal.

On the stage Dean performed in the shows of Stephen Sondheim. He appeared on Broadway in the original company of Into the Woods as Rapunzel's Prince, internationally as Tony in West Side Story and regionally in Company.

Today Butler works largely behind the camera producing entertainment, sports, and documentary programming for broadcast, DVD bonus content and web content that has earned him Telly and Aurora Awards. Butler produces Feherty for Golf Channel starring David Feherty. He is also a West Coast correspondent for Broadway World, a provider of web content about the performing arts.

Butler has directed, produced, written and narrated nearly eight hours of bonus features for Little House on the Prairie DVD collections. As part of the 40th Anniversary celebration of Little House on the Prairie was remastered and re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray. As part of that release Butler narrated a special 6-part documentary entitled "The Little House Phenomenon" that will appear in parts as all ten seasons of the series come on the market.

In addition to bonus content Butler has produced two documentaries, Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy Of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura, which draw their inspiration from the Little House books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Additionally, in 2012 Butler co-executive produced Pa's Fiddle: The Music of America for PBS featuring the talents of Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap, Rodney Atkins, Ashton Shepherd, The Roys, Committed, Natalie Grant and Randy Scruggs.

Butler is married to actress Katherine Cannon, who played Felice Martin on the television series Beverly Hills 90210. They met when Cannon successfully auditioned for the female lead in the Michael Landon series Father Murphy. They live in Los Angeles, California.