Kenneth Utt

Kenneth Utt, was an American film producer and unit production manager. He received the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing The Silence of the Lambs.

Life and career

Utt was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on July 13, 1921. He graduated from Elon College in Elon, N.C. in 1942. He received a scholarship to Juilliard School where he studied vocals in hopes of becoming an opera singer. Utt served in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He returned home and became a stage and radio actor, appearing in shows like Carousel.
Utt began working in production on stage performances of Peter Pan, the lesser known 1950 Broadway version with music by Leonard Bernstein. He then became a film line producer for films like Midnight Cowboy, The French Connection, The Seven-Ups and All That Jazz. Utt was a producer and unit production manager on four Jonathan Demme films: Something Wild, Married to the Mob, The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, with Lambs and Philadelphia earning awards at the Oscars. Utt was among the three producers who received Best Picture for Lambs, in which he also made a cameo appearance.

Death

Utt died on January 19, 1994, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan at the age of 72. The cause was bone cancer. He is survived by his wife Angie, son Tim Utt, and daughter Robin Utt Fajardo.

Filmography

''He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.''

Film

;Production manager

Year	Film	Role
1968	Bye Bye Braverman	Production supervisor
1978	The Wiz	Production manager
1979	All That Jazz	Production manager
1981	Eyewitness	Unit production manager
1982	Still of the Night	Production manager
1983	Star 80	Production manager
1985	Heaven Help Us	Production manager
1986	Power	Production manager
1986	Something Wild	Production manager
1988	Married to the Mob	Unit production manager
1990	Miami Blues	Unit production manager
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Unit production manager
1992	Gladiator	Unit production manager
1993	Philadelphia	Unit production manager

;As an actor

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1944	Winged Victory	Chorus Member	Uncredited
1986	Something Wild	Dad
1988	Married to the Mob	Sourpuss F.B.I. Man
1990	Miami Blues	Krishna Ramba, Head Krishna
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Dr. Akin
1991	Dogfight	Thrift Shop Man
1993	Philadelphia	The Jury
1994	The Ref	Jeremiah Willard
2002	The Truth About Charlie	The Late Monsieur Hyppolite
2004	The Manchurian Candidate	Rosie's Cousin's Mentor

;Miscellaneous crew

Year	Film	Role
1970	The Angel Levine	Production executive

;Location management

Year	Film	Role
1972	Fuzz	Location supervisor: Boston

;Thanks

Year	Film	Role
1998	Beloved	Grateful acknowledgment

Television

;Production manager

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961−62	The Defenders	Production manager
1972	Liza with a Z	Production supervisor	Television special
1974−75	Movin' On	In charge of production
1975	Strike Force	Executive in charge of production	Television film

;As an actor

Year	Title	Role
1954−56	Studio One	Dave Horn Joseph Blake

;Miscellaneous crew

Year	Title	Role
1962	The Defenders	Assistant to the producer
1962	The Nurses	Assistant to the producer

;Thanks

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Subway Stories	Dedicated to Kenny Utt	Television film