Utt was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on July 13, 1921. He graduated from Elon College (now Elon University) 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 Corps 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. He then became a film line Producer for films like Midnight Cowboy (1969), The French Connection (1971), The Seven-Ups (1973) and All That Jazz (1979). Utt was a Producer and unit production manager on four Jonathan Demme films: Something Wild (1986), Married to the Mob (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Philadelphia (1993), 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.
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 and son Tim Utt and Daughter Robin Utt Fajardo
