Will Hutchins, Gentle Cowboy Lawman in ‘Sugarfoot,’ Dies at 94

Will Hutchins, who had a comically genteel starring role during the craze for television westerns in the 1950s, playing a sheriff who favored cherry soda over whiskey on “Sugarfoot,” died on April 21 in Manhasset, N.Y., on the North Shore of Long Island. He was 94.

The cause was respiratory failure, his wife, Barbara Hutchins, said in a funeral home death notice.

In 1958 and ’59, eight of the top 10 shows on TV were westerns. The best known included “Cheyenne” and “Maverick.” Mr. Hutchins was part of the stampede: “Sugarfoot” premiered on ABC in 1957 and ran for four seasons.

The show was produced by Warner Brothers, which took its name and theme music from an otherwise unrelated 1951 western movie starring Randolph Scott. The title refers to a man of the Wild West who seems so unsuited to shootouts and cattle wrangling that he cannot be called even a “tenderfoot.”

Mr. Hutchins’s character, Tom Brewster, was the sugarfoot in question: an Eastern law student seeking his fortune as a sheriff who sidles up to the saloon bar to order a sarsaparilla (Wild West root beer) “with a dash of cherry.” He abhors violence, tries to stop women from throwing themselves at him and lovingly gives up his share of drinking water for his horse.

Mr. Hutchins played the role for comedy, following up a villain’s insult with a dramatic pause, only to critique the man for not being “sociable.” Other dramatic moments prompted him to lecture Westerners about problems with their “disposition.”