Merritt 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 drama “Hill Street Blues.” Soon after, he was cast as John “Johnny Slash” Ulasewicz, a major supporting character in the teen sitcom “Square Pegs” (1982), which received critical praise but was cancelled after 19 episodes (one season). The character was described by one critic as an “apparent (but never declared) gay student.”
While “Square Pegs” was in pre-broadcast production, Butrick was cast to play David Marcus, the physicist son of James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his former lover Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982).
He continued the role in the follow-up film “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984), 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,” an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Meanwhile, he appeared in the comedy film “Zapped!” (1982), the horror film “Fright Night Part 2” (1988), and as Barbara Hershey’s hillbilly son in the drama film “Shy People” (1987).
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 “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991) (filmed after Butrick’s death), in which Captain Kirk puts a photograph of his murdered son on his desk. (Wikipedia)
Happy Birthday, Merritt Butrick!