American financial backer and producer of the 1969 Broadway musical Hair, a production that turned into one of the phenomena of stage history. A skilled impresario, Butler was a developer at Sugarbush ski resort, a negotiator with Eastern Kings, land developer in the Caribbean, special advisor on Indian and Middle Eastern Affairs to President Kennedy, championship polo player, paper industry executive and political candidate for Illinois State Senator. His life was always unconventional and he was dubbed by the press as the “hippie” millionaire.
The oldest child of industrialist sportsman Paul Butler and Marjorie von Stresenreuter, Michael’s ancestors arrived in America in 1654, and in the early 1800s they became the first American paper makers to provide paper for the U.S. Congress. His parents’ marriage ended in divorce, with both initially sharing custody for Michael, his brother Frank and his sister Jorie. After a prolonged and ugly court battle, his mother relinquished custody, leaving the children in their father’s care. In 1936, his father gave Michael a memorable special gift, his first polo pony. Michael, originally named Paul Jr., attended numerous schools including Butler School, Avery Coonley, Chicago Latin, Arizona Desert, the Butler Paper School, Culver Military Academy, the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado. At age 17, he went to work for the family paper business in Chicago. Five years later, he set a company sales record and transferred to the European division.
Butler’s prior successes paled in comparison to his endeavors with the musical “Hair.” Overall, he made about $10 million, and during a couple of the shows in San Francisco, he joined the cast for the nude scene. His profits allowed him to coast through the 1970s, partying and enjoying his own particular lifestyle of exuberance and excess. Butler, a free agent, divided his time between Chicago, New York, Palm Beach and Acapulco. He was as hip as his milieu, equally comfortable in leather as he was in Saville Row suits. While spending time in New York, he lived in a penthouse, and whether there or partying in Florida, he always had a beautiful woman on his arm and the best that life could offer for his choices.
In 1980, Butler attempted to duplicate his prior success with the production of “Reggae,” but failed, the show closing after only a brief run, leaving him to retreat to his Oak Brook residence. Always too trusting, according to his sister, and a boy-man who loved his toys, he soon discovered that life was not all fun and games. On 24 June 1981 at 9:11 PM his father was hit by a car and killed. His father’s death preceded a decade of legal battles between the principal heirs and ultimately ended with a seemingly irreparable rift between Michael and his brother Frank.
When all was said and done, Butler was left in financial difficulty, and in 1990, he went to court and filed personal bankruptcy. An auction and estate sale of his possessions followed and led to the end of his long-standing relationship with Oak Brook, the community created and developed by his father. His well-known sense of humor and spirit were sorely tested during this period, but he emerged with his integrity intact, still loyal and devoted to his friends.
Butler dated Candice Bergen, Nati Abascal and Audrey Hepburn, with whom he had a relationship in the early 1950s before her marriage to Mel Ferrer.
Using his Hollywood connections, primarily the relationship with godfather Tyrone Power, Butler met and married Mary Schenck, an actress-singer. After their divorce, he wed a second time, but his marriage to socialite Robinson Boyer also dissolved after only a couple of years. In 1962, he married for a third time. He and his socialite wife Loyce Stinson Hand had one son, Adam, born in 1965. Once again, the marriage failed. Although they separated in 1965, the divorce was not finalized until 1971.
Michael Butler died on 7 November 2022 in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 95.
Link to Wikipedia biography