Dan (I) Butler filmography and biography
Date of birth: 2 December 1954, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
Dan (I) Butler trivia
- Is best known for the role of Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the super-popular
Emmy-winning show Frasier.
- Is a playwright.
- Is one of only two actors to have appeared in the original Hannibal
Lecter film, Manhunter, as well as
The Silence of the Lambs. The other is
Frankie Faison.
- Graduated from Northrop High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While there,
he received a drama award.
- Butler was among the public figures to speak out in 2000 against
California's Proposition 22 (also known as the Knight Initiative) that
sought to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
- In 1995, he and Candace Gingrich served as spokespersons for the
National Coming Out Day Project. Butler appeared in public service
announcements that included the gently humorous statement, "I'm not a
straight man, but I play one on television".
- Studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco
from 1976 to 1978.
- In high school, Butler pursued his penchant for the stage, winning
leading roles in student plays. He also excelled in sports and was
elected class president.
- Best known for his role as Robert "Bulldog" Briscoe in
Frasier. Initially, he was a recurring guest actor, but
in 1996, he became a member of the main cast. His character was written
out of the show in 1999, but returned to guest star in five episodes of
the series' last three seasons.
- Butler left both Purdue University and San Jose State College without
degrees and migrated to San Francisco where he worked in regional
theatre.
- Has been involved with the theatre since his youth in Fort Wayne,
Indiana. He made his performing debut as a lad in a local production of
"The Music Man" and eventually joined the Indiana-Purdue theatre group
while in high school.
- Butler disclosed his homosexuality on
Entertainment Tonight in 1994 during his run as a
swaggering heterosexual on Frasier.
- Openly gay, he starred in Terrence McNally's 1989 play "The
Lisbon Traviata" and wrote a one-man off-Broadway play about his life,
"The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me...", which derives its
title from a comment Butler's father allegedly made when Dan came out
to him. In the play, he plays 14 different gay characters.
- Father Andrew Butler is a pharmacist; mother Shirley is a homemaker.
- His life partner is Richard Waterhouse (I).
Dan (I) Butler quotes
- There are so many different camps about what being gay means. The danger
comes when each one is so rigid that it sees itself as the true
picture.