List of Deadwood Characters - Main Characters - Charlie Utter

Charlie Utter

Charles "Charlie" Utter (Dayton Callie) is the good friend of Hickok and Jane, and Hickok's sometime business partner. He runs a mail and freight business in the camp and is also one of Bullock's deputies. He is an honest and uncomfortable person with a kind and generous nature. Incredibly noble, he is also tough and fearless in the face of adversity and not afraid to speak his mind clearly.

He is friends with Joanie Stubbs and is approached by her in desperation upon the murders of three of her prostitutes by Wolcott, and smuggles the rest out of town to safety. Sworn to secrecy about the matter, Utter nevertheless takes the opportunity to administer a terrible beating to Wolcott on the pretext of Wolcott's having stepped on Utter's toe. Later though, Charlie displays some pity for the man.

He continues to have an up and down relationship with Jane as she continues to decline into alcoholism, despite the abuse she gives him; he constantly looks out for her, (he spurs her on to take a job at his freight business and to start a friendship with Joanie Stubbs). He displays his fearlessness again in Season 3 when he harasses Hearst in his cell after he is arrested by Bullock, trivializing the man's authority in the camp. He later threatens his life at the door of his hotel room.

The character is based on the real-life person "Colorado" Charlie Utter, a member of Wild Bill Hickok's entourage. However, the nickname "Colorado Charlie" is never used for the character on the show.