Adios, Sugarfoot: Will Hutchins 1930 – 2025

Promotional card
(D. Brady collection)

As a big fan of TV Westerns, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the passing of Sugarfoot himself, Will Hutchins, who passed away on April 21st at the age of 94. He really was the last of the TV cowboys from the 1950s.

Sugarfoot followed the adventures of Tom Brewster, who wasn't your typical TV cowboy. He rarely carried a gun, was shy around the ladies and didn't really touch hard liquor, preferring instead sarsaparilla "with a dash of cherry." 

He was nicknamed 'Sugarfoot' because he was so green, coming from the East, that he was working his way up to being a tenderfoot.

The most unusual thing about him, however, was that he was studying to be a lawyer, which meant that he always had law books in his saddle bags. But while he seemed bookish, he was proficient with his pistols and not too bad with his fists, either.

Sugarfoot was one of the Westerns produced by Warner Brothers for ABC-TV in the late 1950s and 60s, which also included Maverick, Cheyenne, Lawman, Bronco, and Colt .45. Here's an ABC promotional photo of most of them (except for Clint Walker from Cheyenne).

From left to right: Will Hutchins ("Sugarfoot" Brewster - Sugarfoot), Peter Brown (Johnny McKay - Lawman), Jack Kelly (Bart Maverick - Maverick), Ty Hardin (Bronco Laine - Bronco), James Garner (Bret Maverick - Maverick), Wayde Preston (Christopher Colt - Colt .45), John Russell (Dan Troop - Lawman).

Although I was a little too young to see Sugarfoot in its original run on TV, the reruns appeared locally on TV starting around 1966 until 1970. It often was shown on Sunday mornings, perhaps because it was pretty wholesome fare. That's probably where I first heard of it.

Here's a clip from the very first Sugarfoot show. The great Dennis Hopper plays Billy the Kid.

These days, I have a DVD of the first season and am enjoying it as it is all new to me. Here's the classic theme song, which I happily put into your head for who knows how long. (I whistle it at work sometimes, knowing nobody will recognize it.)

I do remember watching Will Hutchins on another show: the TV version of Blondie. He made a pretty good Dagwood Bumstead. Pretty Patricia Harty was a great Blondie, and son Alexander was played by the kid who was the original voice of Charlie Brown on the Peanuts TV specials.