His work includes classics like Have Gun - Will Travel, Bonanza, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Rifleman, Dr. Kildare, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Hogan’s Heroes, Batman, Star Trek, Gunsmoke, Kung Fu, and Remington Steele. Butler won Emmy Awards for The Blue Knight and Hill Street Blues, in addition to being honored with Emmy nominations for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Hill Street Blues, as well as the pilot episodes of Moonlighting and Sirens. Butler won the DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series twice; the first time for The Waltons in 1973, and the second in 1982 for Hill Street Blues. The DGA also recognized his work with nominations for The Blue Knight in 1974 and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1994.
Robert Butler served as an Alternate on the DGA National Board in 1985 before being elected to the Board in 1987. He was elected Fifth Vice President of the Guild in 1995, a position he held until 1999. Butler has also served as an Alternate on the Western Directors Council. He was Second Vice Chairman of the DGA Foundation, a member of the Residuals Study Committee in 2001, and has served as a co-chair of the Director/UPM Committee. In 2001, the DGA awarded Butler the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award for Extraordinary Service to the Guild.