Bio
David Butler was a veteran South African actor well known for a wide body of work in theatre, television and film.
He was known to international audiences for his role as Art in the television drama series Life is Wild, in 2007. He played the same role in the pilot episode of the original British version of the show, called Wild at Heart.
He was better known to South African audiences for his roles in local television series including Generations, Shado's, Snitch and Binnelanders.
In 2009 he played the role of 37927 in the British-American television mini-series The Prisoner, a remake of the classic 1960s series of the same name.
He also starred as Detective Gabriel "Darkness" Harkness - the ageing, grizzled, head of Room 9 - in the SABC1 science fiction television series Room 9, from 2012-2013.
Butler trained to be an actor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He made his theatre debut in 1983 in the play Another Country at the Baxter and Market theatres.
He made his television debut the same year in the SABC drama The Canterville Ghost. After that he appeared in over 100 other theatre productions and in numerous television and film roles.
Highlights from the theatre are the plays Skyf, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Great Gatsby, Mannetjies Mentz, Cock and Bull Story, Anatomie Titus, and his one-man show A Touch of Madness, about the life of Herman Charles Bosman, which has played across South Africa to great acclaim.
On television he was been seen in Egoli, The Game, Rhodes (BBC mini-series), To the Ends of the Earth, The Triangle (Sci Fi Channel mini-series), Timber, Shado's, Snitch, Binnelanders and Soul City.
He made guest appearances on numerous other television shows including Scoop Schoombie, Justice For All, Zero Tolerance, Tropical Heat, Heartlines, Uncle Max and Jozi-H.
He also acted in numerous feature films, including Cop Land (1997), Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Target (1999), Circles in a Forest, Gums and Noses and Zulu Love Letter.
David died on 27 May, 2021, after a diagnosis of lung cancer in December 2020. He was 61.