Michael Butler (producer)

Michael Butler
Butler (front) with James Rado (in black T-shirt and cap) and a 2006 Hair cast in Red Bank, New Jersey
Born	(1926-11-26) November 26, 1926 (age 90) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Occupation	Theatrical producer
Notable work	Hair, Lenny, Reggae

Michael Butler (born November 26, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American theatrical producer best known for bringing the rock musical Hair from the Public Theater to Broadway in 1968. During his time as Hair producer he was dubbed by the press as "the hippie millionaire". Other Broadway production credits include the play Lenny in 1971 and the musical Reggae in 1980.

In the early 19th century, his ancestors Asa and Simon Butler were the first American paper makers to make paper for the U.S. Congress. In 1841, Julius Wales Butler moved the J.W. Butler Paper Company from the Fox river in St. Charles, Il to State Street in Chicago, IL., the oldest family owned business in Chicago. The family business would later diversify into dairy, ranching, aviation, and Butler, his father and family would be instrumental in founding the village of Oak Brook, Illinois and the Oak Brook Polo Club.

Butler is the godson of Tyrone Power, and in his early twenties he lived with Power and his wife, actress Linda Christian. Through Power's friend, film director Edmund Goulding, he befriended the Kennedy family, particularly Joe and John F. Kennedy. Butler and JFK socialized often in Hyannisport, Greenwich Village and in Newport, R.I. where they got fogged in on a sailing trip.

Butler served as Special Advisor to then-Senator John F. Kennedy on the Middle East, Chancellor of the Lincoln Academy, Commissioner of the Port of Chicago, President of the Organization of Economic Development in Illinois, Assistant to Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, Jr., President of the Illinois Sports Council, and he was a Democratic Candidate in Du Page County for the State Senate.