Butrick was born in Gainesville, Florida, and was an only child. He graduated in 1977 from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. He attended the California Institute of the Arts for acting, but did not complete his degree. His first screen role was as a rapist in two 1981 episodes of the police dramaHill Street Blues. He was cast as John "Johnny Slash" Ulasewicz, a major supporting character in the teen sitcom Square Pegs, which received critical praise but was cancelled after 19 episodes. The character was described by one critic as an "apparent gay student." While Square Pegs was in pre-broadcast production, Butrick was cast to play David Marcus, the physicist son of James T. Kirk and his former lover Carol Marcus, in '. He continued the role in the follow-up film ', in which the character was killed. He later appeared as T'Jon, the captain of a cargo vessel rescued by the crew of the Enterprise in "Symbiosis |Symbiosis", an episode of . Meanwhile, he appeared in the comedy filmZapped!, the horror filmFright Night Part 2, and as Barbara Hershey's hillbilly son in the drama filmShy People. He had a variety of guest roles on television series and television movies. He received critical praise from Time magazine for his performance at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in the playKingfish, in which he played a ditzy, petulant muscle-boy prostitute. It was his last acting role.
Death and legacy
Butrick died of toxoplasmosis, complicated by AIDS, on March 17, 1989, at the age of 29. He has at least two panels dedicated to him as part of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, both referencing his role as David Marcus. The 2008 release of Square Pegs on DVD included a featurette dedicated to Butrick, in which his co-stars, including Jami Gertz and Sarah Jessica Parker, and series creator Anne Beatts, paid tributes to and recounted anecdotes about Butrick. Butrick's Star Trek III co-star Robin Curtis offered similar praise on the DVD commentary for that film. Director Nicholas Meyer, who had directed him in Star Trek II, included a scene in , in which Captain Kirk puts a photograph of his murdered son on his desk. Some sources state that Butrick was gay. Kirstie Alley, his co-star in Star Trek II, identified Butrick as being bisexual.
