This article contains fictional character biographies from the HBO original series
DeadwoodDeadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and almost entirely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from 21 March 2004 to 27 August 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. Set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, the show is...
.
Seth Bullock
Seth Bullock (
Timothy OlyphantTimothy David Olyphant is an American television and film actor. His notable roles include the television drama series Deadwood and Damages, and the films Scream 2, Catch and Release, Live Free or Die Hard, and Hitman.-Early life:Olyphant was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Lisa Wright, and...
) left Etobicoke,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
and wound up a
marshalMarshal is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word derives from Old High German marah "horse" and schalh "servant", and originally meant "stable keeper"...
in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. Soon he heard stories of gold in Deadwood. Rather than searching for gold, he wanted to open a hardware store with best friend and longtime partner, Sol Star. At the camp, he met Wild Bill Hickok. When Hickok was murdered, Bullock pursued the killer into the Black Hills and captured him, taking him back to Dakota for trial. After his return, he became
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Deadwood. Bullock, one of the few honest men in the camp, was enlisted to look after a gold claim for Alma Garret, an upper class East Coast woman whose husband was killed by Swearengen's men over that claim. Eventually, they became sexually involved despite the fact that Bullock is married to his brother's widow and is the stepfather of their son.
He decides ultimately to end his relationship with Alma when his wife Martha and son William come to Deadwood. Later he learns that Alma is pregnant with his child, but the pregnancy ends in miscarriage after she is married to Ellsworth. The relationship between Bullock and Martha continues to be rocky in the aftermath of her arrival until they are struck by tragedy, when William is killed by a wild horse. Though the tragedy is devastating it brings the two closer together and Martha chooses to stay with him in Deadwood.
Although his honest character is instinctively repulsed by Swearengen (and vice versa) the two have formed an uneasy alliance, and slowly seem to form a fondness for each other. In their alliance they try to defend the camp against outside interests (
e.g., the Hearst mining interests, the territorial government, Alma Garret's in-laws) who have begun to appear in the camp, now that Deadwood shows the potential of some degree of wealth. His fiery temper however, often clouds his judgment, distancing him from his friends. He makes a dangerous enemy of George Hearst because he is determined to stand against his criminal conduct. This puts him in considerable danger, as Hearst does at one point try to create circumstances in which Bullock might be lured into a lethal ambush.
There are several discrepancies between the historical
Seth BullockSeth Bullock was a Western sheriff, hardware store owner and U.S. Marshal.-Early life:Many of the details of Bullock's early life are lost...
and the character in the show. In particular, the historical Bullock's wife Martha was not his brother's widow but his childhood sweetheart. In the pilot episode he states he came from Etobicoke, which is poetic license: the historical Seth Bullock was born in Amherstburg,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
.
Al Swearengen
Albert "
Al"
Swearengen (
Ian McShaneIan McShane is a Golden Globe-winning English actor. Although he has starred in a number of films, it is by his television roles that he is generally best known, starting with the BBC's Lovejoy and particularly in the HBO Western drama Deadwood...
) is the proprietor of the Gem Saloon. Born in England but raised in a Chicago orphanage under an abusive figure known as Mrs. Anderson whom he insults and derides on numerous occasions during drunken rants, and having spent time in Australia, Swearengen has forged a formidable position in Deadwood. The most popular place for drinking, gambling, and prostitution in Deadwood, the Gem also acts as Swearengen’s base of operations for various criminal endeavours.
Swearengen is cunning, manipulative and initially appears to be the most cynically amoral of all the characters, showing no hesitation in resorting to violence and murder when it serves his business interests. When former Montana marshall Seth Bullock comes to camp to sell hardware, his upright and law-abiding manner seems a threat to Swearengen, and they initially butt heads until Swearengen decides to make Bullock the "face" of Deadwood and encourages him to pick up the badge again, turning respectability to his advantage in securing the camp's future.
Swearengen’s central goal is to retain his own business interests in Deadwood and keep the camp stable and secure in order to get the territory annexed by the United States. As the camp is set upon, first by political interests and then by big capital, Swearengen comes to the realization that the preservation of his own interests depends on collaboration with others in the camp.
While his alliances are often pragmatic and self-serving, Swearengen does show great loyalty to allies such as Mr. Wu. He displays an almost paternalistic (though often abusive) affection for his three main henchmen, Dan Dority, Johnny Burns, and Silas Adams. He is affectionate toward Trixie, one of the prostitutes of the Gem, and is deeply offended when she begins a relationship with Sol Star
Though he is portrayed as a cutthroat criminal, his character is shown to be more complex, motivated by a peculiar type of morality and justice as well as a need to protect the vulnerable even while seeming to disparage them. For example, though he professes to keep the crippled Jewel around in case someone with only nine cents wants a whore, Trixie relates that his employment of Jewel is really his 'sick way' of protecting her. Swearengen smothers the Rev. Smith, but this may have been to end his suffering rather than out of ill intent. His opposition to both the Pinkertons and George Hearst's machinations also demonstrate a character motivated by morality and the desire to protect the powerless. This is strongly contrasted with his rival Cy Tolliver, who shows little compassion or motivation beyond pure self-interest. Al is thus portrayed as a more heroic character in the series, while Cy remains a villain.
The character is based on the real-life
Al SwearengenEllis Albert "Al" Swearengen was a pimp and early entertainment entrepreneur in Deadwood, South Dakota, running the Gem Theater, a notorious brothel, for 22 years, and combining a reputation for brutality with an uncanny instinct for forging political alliances.Swearengen and his twin brother,...
, who owned the
Gem TheaterThe Gem Theater was a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, owned by Al Swearengen. Swearengen and the Gem are both portrayed in the HBO television show, Deadwood.-Opening:...
in Deadwood. Unlike the character, the historical Al Swearengen was not English.
Ian McShaneIan McShane is a Golden Globe-winning English actor. Although he has starred in a number of films, it is by his television roles that he is generally best known, starting with the BBC's Lovejoy and particularly in the HBO Western drama Deadwood...
won a Golden Globe in 2005 for his portrayal of Swearengen.
Alma Garret
Alma Russell Ellsworth (
Molly ParkerMolly Parker is a Canadian actress, notable for her roles in Canadian and American independent films and the HBO television series Deadwood and Six Feet Under.-Life and career:...
), formerly
Garrett, née
Russell, is a beautiful 30-year-old New Yorker, moved to Deadwood with her new husband Brom Garret, who left the high society of New York to experience frontier life by buying a claim in the gold rich territory, bringing his new wife with him. It is not long until Brom Garret falls foul of Al Swearengen after the gold claim he purchases in a deal brokered by Swearengen appears worthless - threatening the saloon owner with
PinkertonThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton had become famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton...
involvement should his money not be returned to him. He is promptly murdered on Swearengen’s orders - only for the claim to turn out a rich one. Now stranded in Deadwood and dealing with attempts by Swearengen to buy the claim back, the widow Garret decides to try her luck on the new frontier rather than sell the claim to return back East. She hires Wild Bill Hickok to investigate both the claim and Swearengen’s interest. Hickok soon nominates Bullock to assay her gold claim prior to his murder; an event that places Bullock as the sole guardian of her interests. Eventually, the two begin an affair that is cut short by the arrival of Bullock's wife and stepson and their mutual revulsion at the prospect of marital infidelity. Alma is, however, brokenhearted and jealous, as well as furious with both Seth and Martha, although she knows that feeling is irrational. Her mood is not aided by her being pregnant by Bullock. In the meantime, she has had to fend off not only her own father, who has heard of the newfound wealth and come seeking a share, but also a surreptitious plan by her husband's family to frame her for her husband's murder and therefore take the claim over for themselves. The additional intense interest of the Hearst mining empire in her claim also poses future problems. To ensure she is not ridiculed during her pregnancy, Trixie tells Ellsworth that he should propose to Alma. After a period of hesitation, Alma accepts Ellsworth's proposal and marries him the following week in front of several Deadwood citizens and friends. In the initial episodes she had an addiction to
laudanumLaudanum , also known as opium tincture or thebaic tincture is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% opium and 1% morphine . It is made by combining ethanol with opium latex or powder...
, which she overcame with the assistance of Trixie. She has also taken Sofia Metz, an orphan whose family was murdered, under her wing as a foster daughter.
In the third season, Alma's loses her baby and returns to her drug addiction. Seeing her addiction as a sign of her unhappiness, Ellsworth decides that they should separate. She opens up Deadwood's first bank but is under increasing pressure to sell to Hearst. She tries to negotiate with him but he will only accept full ownership of the claim. He tries to intimidate her by shooting at her in the street, to provoke Ellsworth to be killed in a fight. Swearengen stops this from happening but Ellsworth is later assassinated by one of Hearst's men. With no other alternative other than to flee the camp, she sells to Hearst.
Whitney Ellsworth
Whitney Conway Ellsworth (
Jim BeaverJames Norman "Jim" Beaver, Jr. is an American stage, film, and television actor, a playwright, screenwriter, and film historian...
) is an experienced prospector who has pursued the color all over the country, even having once worked as a miner at wage and an overseer on sites owned by the Hearst mining company. Having left his position with the company, disgusted at the nonchalant attitude to the well being of the miners, he is introduced in the first season as one of the many individuals who has traveled to the town with the promise of wealth in the gold rich hills, revealing himself to have a 'dead-eye' for the color having successfully managed to eke out a comfortable living in this profession.
He was a regular of the Gem Saloon like many of the town's prospectors and was liked by the Gem's employees including Trixie and Dan Dority. Also understanding the dangerous nature of their employer, he keeps his witnessing of Brom Garret's murder to himself lest he meet a similarly unfortunate accident; in return for his silence Dan Dority does not make known to Swearengen Ellsworth's status as a witness.
After being hired by Seth Bullock to manage Alma's claim to keep her title active, he begins growing an attachment and a strong sense of loyalty towards her and the young orphan Sofia in her care with whom he begins to form a father-daughter bond. By the second season Ellsworth has gone from a mere prospector to completely overseeing Alma's claim and the digging operations as well as a trusted friend and confidant. He defends her claim by chasing off Hearst's Geologist, Francis Wolcott, when he comes to spy out the territory - the two familiar with one another from Ellsworth's days working for the company - and advises Alma to stand her ground when rumor is spread about the camp about the future stability of gold claims once the town is annexed. He also seems to grow distanced from the Gem as well, refusing to genuflect in the presence of the likes of Dority as he once did - a sign of his moving away from his older life and his growing self-assurance and confidence. He has formed friendships with Joanie Stubbs and Sol Star.
Later he is advised by Trixie to wed Alma once it is clear she has become pregnant by Sheriff Bullock. Trusting it is the right thing to do and with a genuine wish to help her save face and help raise both Sofia and the future child, he proposes. She demurs but soon accepts his proposal and marries him the following week in front of their gathered friends and towns people.
When George Hearst attempts to force Alma to sell him her gold claim, Ellsworth is one of the few in town who will stand up to him. But his relationship with Alma falls apart when she miscarries and begins using dope again. The final straw comes when she gets high in an attempt to consummate their relationship. Despite this, they remain friends. Near the end of Season 3, he is shot to death by one of Hearst's agents while supervising Alma's claim. His body is brought to camp in the back of a wagon, and many people, including Trixie, are shocked and upset by his death.
Dan Dority
Dan Dority (
W. Earl BrownW. Earl Brown is an American character actor who has appeared in many mainstream film and television projects. He is perhaps best known as Dan Dority on the HBO series Deadwood. He is also well known for playing Warren in There's Something About Mary.Brown was born in Murray, Kentucky and is an...
), probably based on the real-life Dan Doherty, is Al Swearengen's right-hand man. A former
bushwhackerBushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare during the American Civil War that was particularly prevalent in rural areas where there were sharp divisions between those favoring the Union and Confederacy in the conflict. The perpetrators of the attacks were called bushwhackers.Bushwhackers were not...
, he has been with Al for years and serves him as bodyguard, enforcer and killer. While violent and short-tempered he is not a heartless killer. In the first season he defies Al with the help of Doc Cochran, helping spirit Sofia Metz out of town instead of killing her and decides not to harm Ellsworth, even though he witnessed his murder of Brom Garret. Many others have fallen victim to his short temper, though. When Al is sick at the start of season 2, Dan tells Trixie that he would've been a good-for-nothing scumbag if he would've never met Al.
Dan is jealous of Silas Adams' favor with Al, leading Adams to comment, "Any chance you and me don't end in blood?" The two have an uneasy alliance, however, and Adams saves Dan from a throat-cutting in the second season finale. Though Al's choice to use Adams in his negotiations with Hearst also draws resentment, despite Dan's clear unsuitability for the task.
In Season 3 he is challenged to a fight by Hearst's bodyguard, Captain Turner. He wins, killing Turner in a brutal fight, but only just, which leaves him slightly traumatised, now fully realising his own mortality.
Joanie Stubbs
Joanie Stubbs (
Kim DickensKimberly Jan "Kim" Dickens is an American actress and model.-Early life:Dickens was born in Huntsville, Alabama, graduated from Lee High School, and attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in communication...
) is Cy Tolliver's former madam at the Bella Union. Joanie, unlike Trixie, acts only as the hostess, and not as a prostitute herself. Although she is a lesbian, Stubbs has a long relationship with Cy and is one of the few people Cy cares for, though his increasingly unpredictable and violent behaviour sours their friendship.
Often depressed and self-loathing, she was apparently bought by Cy from her own father, who had abused and pimped her younger sisters as prostitutes. Joanie also reveals that her father used her to coerce her sisters to sleep with him—to "see to his needs since mama was gone." As a result, the emotionally scarred Joanie is weighed down by guilt.
Cy encourages Joanie to spread her wings and form her own brothel, though he may not be very committed to the idea. She leaves the Bella Union to open the Chez Amis, importing high-class and experienced prostitutes from the East with her friend Maddie. Unfortunately, Maddie has funded the operation with funds from Francis Wolcott who is violent toward women and has killed prostitutes before. When Tolliver discovers this and tries to blackmail Wolcott, Wolcott kills several of the women including Maddie. Joanie arranges for the surviving prostitutes to be spirited to safety by Charlie Utter, but remains sitting alone in her shuttered place of business with her dreams of independence destroyed. Her spirits are restored by smashing a
bourbonBourbon is an American whiskey, a type of distilled spirit, made primarily from corn and named for Bourbon County, Kentucky. It has been produced since the 18th century.- Legal requirements :...
bottle on Wolcott's head when he returns to the scene. She also finds comfort in her burgeoning romantic attachment to Calamity Jane. She attempts to rebuild her life by making the Chez Amis into a school house. It is also the refuge of Mose, who recovers there after being shot in the Bella Union.
Doc Cochran
Dr. Amos "
Doc"
Cochran (
Brad DourifBradford Claude "Brad" Dourif is a BAFTA-winning and Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated American film and television actor, best known for his roles as Younger Brother in Ragtime, Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hazel Motes in Wise Blood, Gríma Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings:...
) is the only doctor in the camp of Deadwood and for this reason is respected and revered. He is relatively invulnerable to the risk of violence in Deadwood, as he is valuable to Swearengen and Tolliver for his medical maintenance of the prostitutes and as a result is unafraid to speak his mind to both of them, as their behaviour is often cold and cruel. He was charged with grave robbery seven times. When the reverend Smith is at his last extremity, dying of a brain tumor, Cochran prays for the reverend to be released from suffering, and weeps as he recalls the cries of agony he has heard on the battlefield during the Civil War. When Al falls ill he claims that he doesn't want to lose another patient and is under so much stress he can't stop his hands from shaking. At the end, he succeeds in making Al better and his confidence seemed to go up again after that. He displays constantly a moral compass similar to humanist philosophy.
When Chinese prostitutes appear in town, he is shocked by the inhumane conditions in which they are kept. Much to his distress he is barred from treating them, forced to stand by and watch them die.
In Season 3, he shows symptoms of
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
. Al, however, spurs him on not to just lay down and die, remarking "I ain't learning a new Doc's 'quirks'".
Martha Bullock
Martha Eccles Bullock (
Anna GunnAnna Gunn is an American actress, best known for her roles as ADA Jean Ward on The Practice, Martha Bullock on Deadwood, and, currently, Skyler White on Breaking Bad. She also provided the voice for Ariel in the Legacy of Kain series of videogames.-External links:*...
) is Seth Bullock's wife and former sister-in-law. Seth's brother Robert had been a cavalryman and died while fighting comancheros in Texas. Bullock felt obliged to marry and take care of the widow and orphan, although he is not actually romantically involved with her. She feels a confusing mix of gratitude towards Bullock, perhaps even romantic love for him, but wishes that he not sacrifice his own happiness any more than necessary to provide for her and her son. However, she still harbors great deal of jealousy towards her husband's feelings for Alma Garret, though is perplexed by his reluctance to act on them.
She is devastated by the death of her son William, the grief however, brings her and Seth together and they continue to live together in Deadwood. She later becomes the teacher of the camp's children.
The real-life Martha Bullock was not the widow of Seth Bullock's brother, but was Bullock's childhood sweetheart.
Sol Star
Solomon "
Sol"
Star (
John HawkesJohn Hawkes is an American film and television actor. He is known for his portrayal of Bugsy in The Perfect Storm and as the Jewish merchant Sol Star on the HBO series Deadwood. He played the role of Greg Penticoff in season 1 of 24...
) is Seth Bullock's best friend and partner in the hardware business and the only Jew in camp. He is from Vienna, Austria. Imperturbable and sensible, Sol has become a rising force in the camp; originally seeing the potential wealth in providing tools to the mass of prospectors in Deadwood, the second season sees Sol set his sights on forming the first bank in Deadwood alongside Alma Garret. Though mocked by Swearengen at every turn for his being Jewish, particularly during the initial phase of buying the future site of the Bullock and Star hardware from the saloon owner, Sol never rose to the bait; showing not only his business acumen but his level headedness against his friend's occasionally rash nature. Though he seems meek in nature, he has proven to be capable of standing up for himself when provoked.
He also formed a relationship with Trixie, Swearengen's favored girl at The Gem. She helped nurse him back to health from a gunshot wound sustained as a bystander to the fight between Swearengen and Bullock in the opening episode of Season Two, but Sol has become frustrated at the fondness and loyalty she still retains for Swearengen.
By the third season, Star has become such a respectable figure of the camp that he runs for mayor against Farnum. Knowing that he will win, Swearengen connives to sell Star a house and has Trixie housed in the hotel next door where she can enter his room through a secret passage in the wall, to make their relationship less of an open secret and make Star appear a more respectable candidate.
A. W. Merrick
A. Walter "
A. W."
Merrick (
Jeffrey JonesJeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television shows, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, and as the infamous dean of students, Edward R...
) is the proprietor of the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer. Somewhat pretentious in his bearing, he prides himself as a newspaperman with a duty to print the truth, but must navigate a twisty path of remaining friends with all the major players in town and being privy to their plans and confidences.
Though not a man of great courage, Merrick is a man of principle. He refuses to print Commissioner Jarry's notice which puts claims in the camp under doubt, and as a result comes under attack from Tolliver, who send Leon and Stapleton to trash his press. After this, Swearengen makes him his ally and conspires with him to print articles in the paper to draw back his control and bring elections to the camp. Merrick comes under attack again in Series 3 when he publishes a letter designed to embarrass Hearst. Hearst has him beaten up as a result. As a result, Merrick is injured to the point where he cannot put on his clothes by himself. He is also one of the few people Al really seems to like, he even kills the one responsible for Merrick's beating.
Trixie
Trixie (
Paula MalcomsonPaula Malcomson is a British actress born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Malcomson, sometimes credited as Paula Williams, recently starred as "Trixie" in the HBO series Deadwood and Colleen in ABC's Lost...
) is Al Swearengen's favorite girl at the Gem. Swearengen is often abusive toward her, but she always returns to him and he in turn often shows great affection for her, though not openly.
Despite her rather frank and foul-mouthed nature, she is one of the more compassionate members of the camp. When she is nursing Alma and Sofia, she helps Alma kick her dope habit against the wishes of Swearengen. She attempts suicide afterward believing that Al will kill her for going against his wishes. Despite her insubordination, Swearengen is most angry because of this attempt to kill herself. When asked her last name, she replies "the Whore".
In an effort to get out from under Al, she acknowledges Sol Star's affection toward her and sleeps with him, the symbolic ending of her relationship with Al, though Al keeps the two apart by forcing Star to pay for their time together.
The relationship between Trixie and Star is rekindled when she nurses him back to health after he is shot and with whom she eventually finds employment and romance, but remains devoted to Swearengen and reports back to him on Star's and Bullock's activities and disguising her true feelings for Star. She starts to work at the Hardware store learning accounts. By Season 3 she is working for Alma at the bank.
She is friends with Ellsworth and on learning that he has been killed marches to the Grand Hotel to shoot Hearst in retaliation, with her top undone to take attention away from her face. She shoots him in the shoulder but does not kill him. Hearst wants her killed in retaliation but Al will not allow it. Instead he kills another prostitute, Jen, who resembles her to placate Hearst.
Although the character is not based on a single real-life person, the scene of her putting a bullet through the skull of a violent client who astounds all by clinging to life for another half hour, is based on an actual report by John S. McClintock of such an occurrence involving a prostitute at the Gem Theater named "Tricksie", including the doctor's inserting a probe through the hole in the man's skull.
It is implied Al is in love with her and spurns her later on to have a better quality of life than he could provide her. He verbally attacks Trixie when she casually mentions she'd "like to turn a fucken' trick" long after she's stopped working as a prostitute, chastising her for not realising "when her lots' improved."
Tom Nuttall
Thomas "
Tom"
Nuttall (
Leon Rippy-Biography:He has worked with Roland Emmerich on seven movies including: Moon 44 , Eye of the Storm , Universal Soldier , Stargate , The Thirteenth Floor , The Patriot , Eight Legged Freaks and also had a role in the 2004 film The Alamo.Television appearances include a guest role on Star Trek: The...
) is proprietor of the No. 10 saloon which is the site of Wild Bill Hickock's murder. One of the first settlers to arrive in Deadwood, arriving before even Swearengen, he has grown increasingly disillusioned with the camp and its future and has gone as far as to consider selling his saloon and leaving the camp.
Towards the end of Season 1, he convinces Swearengen to set up his saloon's card dealer, Con Stapleton, as the camp's first sheriff, but renounces him when he falls under Cy Tolliver's corrupting influence and is physically stripped of his badge by Bullock.
In Season 2 he receives the first bicycle in camp, which he defends against ridicule by accepting a challenge to ride through the town over difficult terrain. He forms a brief friendship with William Bullock. As the horse that tramples William did so after being spooked by his bicycle, Tom feels himself responsible and becomes especially distraught after his death.
Swearengen hints at Tom's violent past by saying he'd "Sent many
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
to the happy hunting ground. Formidable, Tom was. And no more fool now than time shows us all."
In Season 3 he expresses interest in co-founding a Deadwood fire brigade with his barman, Harry Manning, who is standing for Sheriff.
He plays the spoons.
E. B. Farnum
Eustace Bailey "
E. B."
Farnum (
William Sanderson-Biography:Sanderson was born on January 10, 1944 in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. to an elementary school teacher mother and a landscape designer father. He is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He holds business and law degrees from the University of Memphis...
) is the proprietor of the Grand Central Hotel and self-appointed mayor of the town, a role he inhabits with comic opera buffoonish seriousness. He is totally controlled by Swearengen, although he harbors delusions of potential grandeur for himself. He delivers a line which perhaps summarizes the series best: "One hopes for the best. One perseveres. One reevaluates constantly. One is an asshole if one doesn't." He is incredibly greedy — costing Al the chance to buy Alma Garret's claim due to low offers — and continually asks prying questions to people around town, leading to numerous abuses and threats directed towards him. He was the agent in helping establish the Bella Union in town, although Al chose to let him live as an informant.
He is disliked and insulted by most members of the camp and is beaten by Bullock at one point when he believes that Farnum has betrayed information of his relationship with Alma to Hearst, who buys the Grand Central from Farnum, offering him $100,000 and position as manager. This distances him from Swearengen's operations and makes him an isolated figure.
His one and only confidant is his servant, Richardson, whom he scolds and insults on many occasions, but as Season 3 progresses even he is distanced from him as Richardson becomes friends with Hearst's cook, Aunt Lou. Hearst's attitude towards him drives him to the brink and Farnum finally tries to stand up to him and return to Al's good graces.
Jane Canary
Jane Canary (
Robin WeigertRobin Weigert is an American television and film actress.Weigert was born in Washington, D.C. of Jewish heritage. After graduating from Brandeis University in 1991, Weigert attended New York University, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in the highly regarded acting program at the Tisch School...
), a former scout for General Custer, arrived in camp with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter. She idolized Hickok, is still friends with Charlie Utter (albeit begrudingly), and forges a friendship with Doc Cochran, after their joint efforts in protecting Sofia Metz and the doctor's enlistment of her aid in fighting a smallpox epidemic.
Known for her hard drinking and swearing, Jane is truculent and abrasive upon first impression, but her character has a loopy humor and an upright moral center that grows on people in the camp. After Hickok's murder, she sinks even deeper into severe depression and alcoholism. At the end of Season 1, she leaves camp, telling Utter that she cannot bear to be a drunk in the place where Hickcock is buried. Utter is seen voicing "grave doubts" about Jane's future to Hickok's grave.
Despite a constant tough front, she at times shows when directly confronted to be overcome with fear, (such as with Tolliver and Swearengen), despite giving no history to herself, she mentions to Charlie Utter after she's confronted by Al that she hadn't been that scared since she was a child, possibly telling that men like Cy and Al remind her of her own father. She recovers somewhat due to her relationship with Joanie Stubbs. Joanie invites Jane to live with her and helps her through her depression, and they begin a romantic liaison.
Though never referred to as "Calamity Jane" in the series, the origin of her nickname is implied by Andy Cramed, a smallpox victim left to die in the woods by Cy Tolliver, whom she recovered and helped nurse back to health. Upon his recovery, he tells her "whenever in calamity, I will seek Jane."
Cy Tolliver
Cyrus "
Cy"
Tolliver (
Powers BoothePowers Allen Boothe is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on the HBO series Deadwood.-Personal life:...
) is the owner of the upscale Bella Union saloon and Al Swearengen’s main rival. Cy has an 18-year relationship with former prostitute and madam Joanie Stubbs, who later leaves the Bella Union to form her own brothel, leaving a mix of friendship and anger between them, Cy is clearly in love with Joanie and is bitter not to have his feelings reciprocated. Ruthless and with a veneer of class and polish, Cy soon proves that while he may lack his rival’s skill in cunning duplicity he makes it up in ambition, becoming temporarily allied with the Hearst combine in Season 2. He also becomes partners with Mr. Lee, the newly arrived Tong leader from San Francisco, in “Celestial’s Alley”; an area of low priced gambling and Chinese prostitution that sees women placed in unspeakably horrid conditions, a fact Cy dismisses as a mere “cultural difference”. However he does accept Doc Cochran's offer to treat them for free, as a condition of Cochran's continuing to treat Tolliver's white prostitutes. As Season 2 climaxes Swearengen ends out on top, leaving Cy Tolliver in a weakened position; with both Francis Wolcott and Mr. Lee dead and Cy receiving a knife to the stomach courtesy of Andy Cramed.
He survives but becomes increasingly desperate and unstable. Though he clearly despises Tolliver, Hearst employs him to act as his agent but Tolliver finds Hearst difficult to work with. When he hands him an advantage, having discovered that Leon is dealing dope to Alma, Hearst rants angrily that he should have told him sooner. When Hearst leaves camp, he puts Tolliver in charge of his "other-than-mining interests," as Cy snidely puts it, making him angry at Hearst for all but eliminating their business together. Soon afterwards, Tolliver exits to the Bella Union balcony accompanied by Leon and a whore. He stabs Leon and tells him he's stupid for congratulating him on his remaining business with Hearst. In his anger he points a gun at Hearst's coach as it readies to leave the camp, but does not shoot him. Instead he presses the gun to the whore's forehead, before regaining his calm and returning inside.
Charlie Utter
Charles "
Charlie"
Utter (
Dayton CallieDayton Callie is a Scottish American actor, best known for playing Charlie Utter on Deadwood and Ernie Dell on CSI. He now portrays Police Chief Wayne Unser on Sons of Anarchy and appeared in H2: Halloween 2....
) 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, a meeting with Wolcott shows Charlie, though still disgusted by Wolcott, feeling some pity for the man, initially threatening him for Wild Bill's last letter, which through a series of events, Wolcott has come into possession of, Utter at the end of the conversation seems to pick up on Wolcott's physiological pain and leaves.
This again shows Charlie's acute ability to understand people quickly and know how best to interact with them.
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 Stubs). 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.
Johnny Burns
John "
Johnny"
Burns (Sean Bridgers) is a worker at the Gem Saloon and one of Al's lackeys. His main jobs are as bartender, cleaner and hauling corpses to Wu's pig sty. Young and ambitious, Johnny is also not too bright, leading Al to continually abuse him verbally and physically. He shoots Charlie Utter and Sol Star in the second season but does not kill them and expresses severe remorse - unlike Adams and Dority. Though he is very loyal to Al, he refuses to kill the whore Jen when Al is trying to trick Hearst into thinking he has killed Trixie. Johnny tries but can't put himself up to the deed and says to Al he won't do it. Therefore, Al knocks him out, and they tie him up. Later Dan frees him, and Johnny asks Al if Jen suffered. Al says he tried to do it as painlessly as possible. When Johnny leaves the room, he adds the comment, "He wants me to tell him something pretty."
Though Johnny is portrayed as very stupid, he has shown forms of intelligence. He can read and teach it to others. Later in the series he shows understanding of Wu's drawings and pidgin English when even Al cannot make out the meaning.
Silas Adams
Silas Adams (
Titus WelliverTitus Welliver is an American actor.Welliver was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Norma, a fashion illustrator, and the famous landscape painter Neil Welliver. He studied drama at New York University in the early 1980s before his film and television career began to take shape...
), also known as "the bagman from Yankton", who comes to camp to bring bribe money to Magistrate Clagget. Swearengen hires Adams to join his operation, as he is smarter than Al's other lackeys, paying him to slice Clagget's throat for extorting money from Swearengen. Adams serves Swearengen as his contact in Yankton to bring him news of the territorial changes, as well as relying on his legal counsel when dealing with Commissioner Jarry and his election proposals. He also serves as middleman between Hearst and Swearengen.
Has a brief, ill-fated romance with Miss Isringhausen (a Pinkerton agent).
He is a rival of Dan Dority for Swearengen's favor, although he saves Dan's life from a Chinese knife-wielder in the Season 2 finale and the two have formed a tentative alliance.
Sofia Metz
Sofia Metz (
Bree Seanna WallBree Seanna Wall is an American television actress known for playing the part of Sofia Metz on the HBO series Deadwood. She was born on May 8, 1995 in Riverside County, California....
) is the sole survivor of an attack on her family on the way home to her native
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, a robbery by Swearengen's men disguised as an attack by hostile "
IndiansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
". Tramautized and unresponsive, possibly not even speaking English, her parents and two siblings murdered, she is nevertheless targeted for murder by Swearengen to eliminate the possibility of her identifying her family's killers; however, with the help and protection of Calamity Jane and Doc Cochran, she regains her health and becomes the ward of Alma Garret.
Mr. Wu
Mr. Wu (
Keone YoungKeone J. Young is an American character actor. His father is Chinese, his mother is Japanese.He has been prolific in his character work and has made numerous guest appearances on such varied television series as Diff'rent Strokes, The Golden Girls, Murphy Brown, Mad About You, Family Matters, The...
) is the official or unofficial leader of Deadwood's substantial but mostly unseen Chinese ("Celestials") population, the Asian counterpart to Swearengen. He routinely interacts with Swearengen and other Caucasians over a few matters of business, such as the
opiumOpium is a narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating the immature seed pods of opium poppies . It contains up to 12% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade...
trade, and the seemingly daily efficient disposal of numerous human remains, through the route of his pigs. He knows almost no English beyond the words "San Francisco," "cocksucker," and "Hearst." He however communicates effectively with Swearengen (to whom he refers as "Swedgin!") with the aid of charcoal drawings and hand signals. Nonetheless, Swearengen considers his shaking hand signals and lack of eye contact to be disturbing.
In Season 2, he becomes highly anxious over the arrival in town of the much more polished Mr. Lee from San Francisco, who appears to be the local representative of a large and shadowy
tongIn the United States, a tong is the term used for a type of secret society found among Chinese American immigrants. In the nineteenth century, when the tongs originated, few Chinese workers wished to emigrate to the USA. Although many stayed, most came with hopes of return to China...
organization allied with George Hearst, which henceforward supplies Deadwood with opium and low-priced Chinese prostitutes, from a new establishment to be called "Celestials' Alley", in partnership with Tolliver.
In the second season's final episode, Wu strikes back with the blessing of Hearst and Swearengen, slitting Lee's throat and leading Swearengen's crew to kill Lee's men. Swearengen strikes a deal for Wu to take over Lee's position of finding laborers for Hearst's mining operation, easily supplanting Tolliver in running Chinese affairs. In a symbol of loyalty to Swearengen, Wu slices off his
braidThe queue or cue is a hairstyle in which the hair is worn long and gathered up into a ponytail. It was worn traditionally by certain Native American groups, Indian Brahmins and the Manchu of Manchuria.-Queue:...
(an action punishable by death in China at the time) and declares he will remain in America forever.
In Season 3, he returns from business in San Francisco wearing Western dress (which, as multiple characters remark, he looks terrible in). Wu had been tasked by Al with recruiting Chinese laborers in San Francisco to work in Hearst's mines. Sensing that Swearengen and Hearst have become bitter rivals, he holds the workers in another town rather than bring them to Deadwood.
Blazanov
Blazanov (
Pavel LychnikoffPavel Lychnikoff , also credited as Pasha D. Lychnikoff, is a Russian television and film actor. He is noted for his role as the telegraph operator Blazanov in HBO's Deadwood series...
) is Deadwood's Russian immigrant telegraph operator. He feels a scrupulous dedication to his responsibility to not reveal the private information that he translates and delivers, resisting both Dority's attempts to intimidate him and Farnum's attempts to bribe him into revealing private information. Although later, he makes exceptions to the rules as he sees the danger of Hearst to Deadwood. At one point, he discusses how his parents had sacrificed financially to send him to school, and how they were subsequently murdered by thugs comparable to Hearst's goons. Blazanov's telegraph office is located in the newspaper office of A.W. Merrick.
Leon
Leon (
Larry CedarLarry Cedar is an American actor and a voice actor best known as one of the players of the highly-acclaimed Children's Television Workshop mathematics show, Square One TV on PBS from 1987 to 1994...
) Cy Tolliver's general informant and lackey, Leon is addicted to
opiumOpium is a narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating the immature seed pods of opium poppies . It contains up to 12% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade...
. Formerly employed as a double agent to give Swearengen false information, he and the dope fiend Jimmy Irons robbed and murdered Mr. Wu's opium courier, leading to Jimmy being fed to Wu's pigs. Leon worked to incite anti-Chinese sentiment in the camp following this event, though more out of fear of Cy than anything else, and now serves as Tolliver's eyes around town. He begins to deal dope to Alma Garrett in Season 3 and Tolliver finds out. Afraid that he will be implicated in any attempt to murder Alma, he stops dealing to her soon after.
He was meant to be a great
card sharpA card sharp is a person who uses skill and deception to win at poker or other card games. Such a person is also known in card gaming jargon as a "mechanic"....
before he became an opium addict, according to Cy.
In the final episode of Season 3, Cy Tolliver, in a fit of frustration over Hearst's treatment of him, stabs Leon in the leg. The knife cuts through his
femoral arteryThe femoral artery is a large artery in the muscles of the thigh. It is a continuation of external iliac artery where it enters the femoral triangle at the mid inguinal point behind the inguinal ligament. It leaves femoral triangle through apex beneath the sartorius muscle...
, and Leon soon bleeds to death on Tolliver's balcony shortly after. Dazed from blood loss in his dying moments, Leon still tries to compliment Cy, leading Tolliver to comment, "if those were your last words, tell the Lord you died stupid."
Con Stapleton
Con Stapleton (
Peter JasonPeter Jason is an American actor who performs in many plays, movies, and TV commercials, including Desperate Housewives and Deadwood. In his free time he makes his own furniture out of wood. He has appeared in 12 Walter Hill films, has acted in over 100 commercials and plays, has been in many TV...
) the dim-witted card dealer at the No. 10 saloon, is briefly installed as sheriff when the Number 10's owner, Tom Nutall, began to fear that the camp was "leaving him behind" and asked Al Swearengen to set up his employee in a position of power.
However, Stapleton quickly let himself be bribed by Tolliver to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment and was stripped of his badge by an enraged Bullock. While Nutall renounced him following the incident, Stapleton has remained in Tolliver's employ, often working with Leon, doing odd jobs such as security at the Bella Union and trashing Merrick's printing press. He is seduced by one of Langrishe's theatre troupe.
Jewel
Jewel (
Geri JewellGeri Jewell is an actor and comedian born with cerebral palsy.She is most famous for her roles on the television program The Facts of Life and on HBO's Deadwood.Jewell also works as a motivational speaker....
) is the disabled cleaning woman at the Gem, Al Swearengen's saloon and brothel. (She is played by Geri Jewell, who is affected by cerebral palsy.) Jewel oftentimes uses her job in the Gem to "overhear" what is really going on. Coffee and most of the meals from the Gem kitchen are prepared by her. Al makes a public show of barely tolerating her, often publicly referring to her as "the gimp" or complaining about her noisily dragging her stiff leg. Jewel responds with a cheerful, mocking disrespect Al would tolerate from no one else (when Al was briefly disabled after a minor stroke, Jewel was heard to loudly comment, "He's always dragging that fucking leg!"). Despite Jewel's apparent dismissal to Al's comments, she takes it upon herself to enlist the town doctor to make her a leg brace to ease her own movement, as well as Al's loud constant complaining. Trixie, defending Swearengen to Calamity Jane, cites Jewel as an example of Al's kindness, which he publicly downplays: Al maintains that he only keeps Jewel around in case a customer "only has nine cents" (i.e., can't afford the usual price of a Gem whore), but Trixie calls this "his twisted ... way of protecting her" implying he may simply be fond of her, as she is seen exclusively cooking and cleaning. At one point Al remarks that he first met Jewel in a Chicago orphanage, suggesting that their relationship is akin to that of brother and sister.
Richardson
Richardson (Ralph Richeson) is an unkempt, seemingly simple-minded employee at the Grand Central Hotel whose duties include cleaning and cooking. He rarely speaks and is quite inarticulate on the occasions that he does, both in sharp contrast to his talkative employer Farnum. Richardson has a strange fixation with an old pair of deer's antlers given to him absent-mindedly by Alma (whom he told "I like you. You're purdy."). He clings to the antlers when frightened, carries them when sent by Farnum on an errand, and sometimes raises them to a larger pair of antlers, in prayer.
Farnum detests Richardson, regards him as a mental feeble, and frequently chastises him, sometimes comparing him to a frog or grotesque beast, yet ironically, Richardson is the only person Farnum can totally confide in. Late in the show's run, some indications are given that Richardson is not totally the completely uneducated idiot he seems; he is seen reading a newspaper in private, and reveals himself as an adept juggler at the newly opened theater's amateur night. In Season 3, his job as the Grand Hotel's cook is taken over by Aunt Lou, though Richardson continues as her assistant.
Though originally hired as an extra, Richardson was added as a main character after writers found they liked his eccentric performance in early scenes.
Hostetler
Hostetler (
Richard GantRichard E. Gant is an American film and television actor. His credits include the films Rocky V , Godzilla, Bean, and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, as well as the TV series Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, Deadwood, Babylon 5, Special Unit 2, NYPD Blue, Living Single, and Charmed...
) runs the livery stable. Hostetler is, by default, the primary source of company for Samuel Fields, by virtue of being the only other black man in camp, which leads to much friction between their conflicting personalities. When Fields becomes an unwitting victim of an angry mob led by a hooligan named Steve Fields seeking to take out their frustration at the possibility of being bilked out of their claims, Hostetler provides brief shelter to him, and then immediately betrays him when faced with threat of violence. Fields, for his part, never blames him for this, saying "I'd have done the same thing, only quicker."
He is forced to later flee the camp when a horse brought to him by Samuel tramples William Bullock to death. They later bring the horse back to camp in attempt to seek forgiveness from Bullock. In their absence, Steve has taken over the Livery. Bullock is forced to broker a deal between the two and Hostetler agrees to sell Steve the livery and leave camp. But Steve continually insults and verbally abuses Hostetler throughout the transaction. He finally pushes him over the brink and Hostetler shoots himself in the head, something he attempted once before in earlier appearances, having been driven "crazy with pride," according to Samuel Fields.
Steve the Drunk
Steve Fields (Michael Harney) is one of the camp's many drunks as well as being a loudmouth and racist. He is a continuing nuisance at Tom Nuttall's Saloon. Steve Fields leads a lynch mob against commissioner Jarry in season two, and after failing to get Jarry he proceeds lead the mob against Nigger General Samuel Fields. Bullock disperses the lynch mob, and later threatens and beats Steve on account of his behavior. Steve, seeking justice, secretly masturbate onto Bullock's horse in revenge. He is caught by Hostetler, who plans on killing him, however Nigger General steps in on the two and persuades Hostetler to let Steve live, providing he recognizes all men are God's children, and signs a board to the effect that he fucked Bullock's horse. He hurts his back by as a wild horse stampedes him and William Bullock. When Hostetler leaves town to capture the wild horse which escaped while under his care, Steve takes over the livery, but hostilities continue when Hostetler returns. Bullock negotiates the sale of the livery to Steve. After the deal is complete, Steve demands the board he signed back from Hostetler. He continues to verbally abuse Hostetler as they are searching for the board. The board is found, but the writing, having been in chalk, has become illegible. Steve calls Hostetler a liar, which drives Hostetler to suicide. The next day he plans to remove one of the horseshoes from Nigger General's horse, so he'd have time to persuade him to stay in his employ at the livery. The horse kicks Steve in the head, and he is left in an apparently vegetative state. Nigger General Samuel Fields delays his own plans to leave, and reluctantly cares for Steve.
Nigger General Fields
The
Nigger General Samuel Fields (
Franklyn AjayeFranklyn Ajaye is a stand-up comedian. His nickname is "The Jazz Comedian" as he also played jazz for a time earlier in his entertainment career. He is also known as Franklin Ajaye.-History:...
), loosely based on
Samuel FieldsSamuel Fields was an African-American who claimed to have been a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After 1876, General Fields moved to Deadwood, South Dakota to seek his fortune. There he went by several nicknames—including "Nigger General" and "General...
, is befriended by Calamity Jane. He is nearly lynched during mob violence led by the drunk Steve Fields. Later, Steve is caught by Hostetler during a sexual act on the sheriff's horse's leg. Samuel walks in on Hostetler planning to kill Steve, but persuades him to blackmail Steve by signing a confession on a blackboard.
A wild horse, which Steve and Hostetler are attempting to geld, escapes from their care and tramples William Bullock, the son of Martha Bullock. Samuel stops Hostetler from committing suicide over the incident, and instead the both of them ride out of town to capture the horse that trampled Bullock's son. When they return, Samuel and Hostetler plan to start a livery in Oregon, however Steve drives Hostetler to suicide. Fields plans to leave town, but he is held up by his promise to help Aunt Lou persuade her son to leave. Later, Steve offers him a job at the livery, all the while verbally abusing him. Samuel refuses, and when he returns to the livery to depart with his horse, he discovers that Steve has been paralyzed by a blow to the head. Samuel takes up Steve's care, at first delighted for being able to mock him back, but soon he changes his conduct and takes good care of him. He lingers in camp looking after the horses and after Steve, pushing him around in a wheelbarrow, paying for his care, and addressing him in a friendly manner. He attempts to leave the camp many times, but finds fate intervening whenever he is about to leave.
Reverend Smith
Reverend Henry Weston Smith (
Ray McKinnonRay McKinnon is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. He has been married to actress and producer Lisa Blount since 1998....
) Reverend Smith is a minister who, among other tasks, leads the funerals of many of the individuals who die in the course of the first season. Smith was a field nurse in the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, serving at Shiloh and 2d Manassas, until he received a "sign from God"; he subsequently left his wife and children and became a reverend in Deadwood.
When the plague arrives in camp Smith helps out Calamity Jane and Doc Cochran. Over the course of the first season, Smith suffers from a condition that gradually causes his mental and physical collapse. He starts hallucinating, and at one point doubts if Star and Bullock are his friends or just demons disguised as his friends. As his condition deteriorates he suffers memory lapses and headaches, later becoming bedridden and housed at the whores' quarters in The Gem, before Al takes his life. Dan Dority and Johnny Burns watch when Al closes the reverend's eyes and says "You can let go now, brother."
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler "
Wild Bill"
Hickok (
Keith CarradineKeith Ian Carradine is an American songwriter and actor born into the Carradine family.-Early life:Carradine was born in San Mateo, California, the son of actress and artist Sonia Sorel and actor John Carradine...
) has a reputation as one of the fastest gunslingers around. He arrives in Deadwood as a weary man who seems determined to let his compulsive drinking and gambling take over. With him are his friend, Charlie Utter, and devotee, Calamity Jane. He has apparently come to prospect but despite Charlie Utter's attempts to persuade him to do so, he shows no interest and scolds Charlie for not leaving him be. He becomes friends with Bullock after they save Sofia and shoot down one of her attackers.
Charlie thinks that Bullock will have a positive effect on Bill, and works to bring the two together before Bill's death.
He becomes involved with Alma's affair, first by turning down her husband's request to help him get money back from Al Swearengen after he has been tricked into buying a dry claim. He represents Alma when Brom is killed and enlists Bullock to help him find a prospector to look at the claim.
He locks words with another gambler, the drunk
Jack McCallJohn "'Crooked Nose Jack' or 'Broken Nose Jack'" McCall , killed James "Wild Bill" Hickok, shooting him from behind, an act that among admirers of Hickok and students of Hickok's history has given rise to the phrase "the coward Jack McCall."- Life and murder of Hickok :Many of the...
. During a card games at Nuttal's saloon, McCall approaches Hickok and shoots him dead from behind.
Francis Wolcott
Francis Wolcott (
Garret DillahuntGarret Dillahunt is an American actor. He is married to actress Michelle Hurd.-Early life:Dillahunt was born in Castro Valley, California and grew up in Washington state. He attended the University of Washington where he studied journalism...
), the chief geologist of wealthy San Francisco
miningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash...
magnateMagnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
George HearstGeorge Hearst was a wealthy American businessman and United States Senator, and the father of newspaperman William Randolph Hearst.-Biography:...
, has arrived in camp in order to ascertain whether any of the claims might be of value to the Hearst empire, and if so, to set about acquiring them by any means necessary. He enlists Cy Tolliver to operate as the front for his operation. Wolcott is a self-deprecating and unstable character. He has a sexually violent attitude towards women and has murdered prostitutes. He seems unable to control these impulses and struggles to explain them, showing at times sorrow and regret for doing them, feeling ashamed in front of what he sees as normal people. Wolcott and McCall, arguably the two members of the cast with the most degraded character, are played by the same actor. Wolcott's violent appetite emerges in camp when he kills three prostitutes, including Joanie's friend Maddie, at the Chez Amis. Tolliver disposes of the bodies and covers for Wolcott. David Milch revealed on the commentary for "New Money", that Wolcott was likely sexually abused as a youth, most likely by his mother, which Joanie immediately picks up on, as does he of her own incestuous relationships.
He has a dislike of being seen naked, and murders a prostitute seemingly because she has "seen him".
When Tolliver saw that his operations with Wolcott had failed to bring him standing with Hearst, he tells Hearst about Wolcott's activities. Hearst dismisses Wolcott from his organization, and Wolcott hangs himself from the window of his room in the Grand Hotel shortly thereafter.
George Hearst
George Hearst (
Gerald McRaneyGerald Lee "Mac" McRaney is an American television and movie actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the 1980s television shows Simon & Simon and Major Dad.-Early life:...
), does not make his appearance on screen until the Season Two finale after his employee Francis Wolcott acts on his behalf in attempts to acquire gold claims for him throughout the season. He is based on the real
George HearstGeorge Hearst was a wealthy American businessman and United States Senator, and the father of newspaperman William Randolph Hearst.-Biography:...
, mining magnate and father of
William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher.Hearst was born in San Francisco, California, to millionaire mining engineer George Hearst and Phoebe Apperson. Following preparation at St...
.
In
Boy the Earth Talks To (Season Two Finale), Hearst makes several arrangements with figures in the camp such as purchasing the Grand Central from Farnum, though he gives no indication of the psychotic behaviour he would show in Season Three. Though an avowed misanthrope (as revealed in Season 3), he acknowledges the necessities of social propriety by firing Wolcott for cutting the throats of three prostitutes. Tolliver attempts to blackmail Hearst for a 5% commission by claiming he possesses a letter containing Wolcott's admission to the murders. Hearst also allows Wu to take over Chinese arrangements from Lee when he learns Lee is burning the bodies of dead whores.
In the third season, Hearst remains in Deadwood — personally overseeing his interests in the camp, including his attempt to possess the Garret claim and suppressing attempts by his miners to organize and form unions. Obsessed with 'the color', Hearst's ultimate goal is total control of Deadwood, or to have it destroyed if he cannot consolidate his power over the camp. To this end he murders several of his own miners when they attempt to form a Union and is determined to have control over the Garrett claim. He hires Pinkertons to come to the camp and actively stir up trouble. He tries to provoke Ellsworth to violence by shooting at Alma in the street, as a pretext to have him killed. When this fails he has him assassinated in his tent by Alma's claim. He is shot by Trixie in retaliation but the bullet goes into his shoulder and does not kill him.
Alma is forced into selling the claim to him and he decides to leave the camp shortly after. He is fooled by Al one last time when Al kills a whore resembling Trixie to save Trixie from death. Hearst leaves camp, charging Tolliver with his "other-than-mining interests," as said by Tolliver with disdain.
William Bullock
William Bullock (Josh Eriksson) is Seth Bullock's nephew turned stepson. He is very polite and is respectful towards those with authority but on his arrival to Deadwood could not help but goggle at the prostitutes' dangling breasts, for which his mother scolded him. He shows much respect towards his stepfather and admires his accomplishments. His introduction to Deadwood was a truly memorable scene; the stagecoach rolling to a stop next to the sight of his stepfather and Swearengen in a deadly serious brawl which had just propelled them off the second floor balcony onto the street, punctuated by partisan onlookers taking shots at each other, and Swearengen about to stab Bullock with a knife which he had produced from hiding, but pausing to raise his bloody head to grin demonically at the passengers and bellow "Welcome to fucking Deadwood! Can be combative!" One day while helping Tom Nutall with his new bicycle, young William was trampled and killed by
Samuel FieldsSamuel Fields was an African-American who claimed to have been a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After 1876, General Fields moved to Deadwood, South Dakota to seek his fortune. There he went by several nicknames—including "Nigger General" and "General...
' horse after it escaped an attempted
geldingA gelding is a castrated animal — in English, the term specifically refers to a castrated male horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. As a verb, it also refers to the castration procedure itself. The word comes from the Old Norse geldr...
.
Jack Langrishe
John "
Jack"
Langrishe (
Brian CoxBrian Denis Cox, CBE is a Scottish actor.-Early life:Cox was born in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children. His mother, Mary Ann Guillerline , was a spinner who worked in the jute mills and suffered several nervous breakdowns during Cox's childhood. His father, Charles McArdle Campbell...
) is a theater operator and leader of a troupe of traveling actors who come to settle in Deadwood long-term early in the third season. In Deadwood, which lacks any but the lowest forms of entertainment, he seeks both financial opportunity and a chance to bring art and culture to the town. He is a close, longtime friend of Al Swearengen. Langrishe's accent and name hint at Irish origins.
Possessing a dry wit, and prone to both flattery and self-deprecation, the flamboyant Langrishe charms most of the people he meets, including Martha, Alma, and Merrick. Scouting a location for his theater, he decides that Joanie's former brothel, the Chez Amis, now being used as a schoolhouse, would be perfect if redecorated. He makes her a generous offer to sell the building to him, and she accepts, on the condition that Langrishe have a new schoolhouse built at his own expense, something he happily agrees with. The theater opens some days later in the renovated Chez Amis, with a very successful amateur night.
Al keeps Langrishe aware of the machinations between himself and Hearst. Langrishe discovers that Hearst suffers from back pain, and talks him into trying out a new form of treatment, administered by Langrishe himself in the form of pulls, prods, and thrusts. Later, he suggests to an interested Al the possibility of using these time-consuming but useless back treatments as a way of occupying Hearst's time.
Langrishe is based on the historical theater owner
Jack LangrisheJohn S. "Jack" Langrishe , popularly known as the "Comedian of the Frontier", was an actor and impresario who travelled extensively throughout the American West....
.
Jack McCall
Jack McCall (
Garret DillahuntGarret Dillahunt is an American actor. He is married to actress Michelle Hurd.-Early life:Dillahunt was born in Castro Valley, California and grew up in Washington state. He attended the University of Washington where he studied journalism...
) was a drunkard who shot Hickok in the back of the head as he played poker. McCall was found not guilty by a hurried and impromptu court of locals on the grounds that he was merely avenging the prior murder of his brother by Hickok; but due to Hickok's high regard and the presence of many of Hickok's good friends in town, he was made to realize it was best to leave. McCall is later tracked down and brought to
YanktonYankton is a city in Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 13,528 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Yankton County. Yankton was the original capital of Dakota Territory. It is named for the Yankton tribe of Nakota Native Americans...
,
Dakota TerritoryThe Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when that final extent of the territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota....
for prosecution, by Seth Bullock and Charlie Utter.
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp (
Gale HaroldGale Morgan Harold III is an American actor best known for his roles on Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives and Vanished.-Early life:...
) rode into camp with his brother Morgan, supposedly after saving a stagecoach from robbery, although Earp later confesses to making the story up to enhance their reputation. Upon his arrival he is greeted by Sheriff Bullock. Wyatt tells him that he was a lawman in Kansas, but has come to camp to work a timber lease he won in cards. Wyatt and Morgan are hired by Cy Tolliver as gunmen but are fired when they see Hearst bring in the Pinkertons. After the Earps have a confrontation with one of Hearst's gunmen, and finding out that the timber lease is worth nothing, Sheriff Bullock tells Wyatt and Morgan that it's best they move on. Wyatt and Morgan leave town as allies, if not friends, of Bullock.
Morgan Earp
Morgan Earp (
Austin NicholsAustin Nichols is an American television and movie actor. Nichols has appeared in guest spots on television shows such as CSI, Six Feet Under, Friday Night Lights, and Deadwood. His film roles include the 2004 blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, in which he was cast as an academic and romantic...
) rides into camp with Wyatt after allegedly saving a stagecoach. Morgan has a knack for being a hothead and is always looking for ladies to be with. After some harsh words with one of Hearst's gunmen, he shoots him in the leg. Wyatt, fearing for his brother, pulls the gunman's pistol out of his holster and claims it's a fair fight. Morgan leaves town with Wyatt after Bullock suggests they move on.
Miss Isringhausen
Alice Isringhausen (
Sarah Paulson-Early life and career:Paulson was born in Tampa, Florida, but was raised in Brooklyn, and Maine. Shewas a series regular on the cult television show American Gothic and the WB series Jack & Jill , playing the character "Elisa Cronkite"...
) is hired from back East by Alma Garret to tutor Sofia. Isringhausen remains unobtrusively in the background with Sofia throughout most of the drama between Alma and Seth. After Seth's family suddenly arrives, in Alma's newly upset state, Alma and Isinghausen have an argument over Alma's perception of Isringhausen's lack of warmth towards the girl, and she is fired. Isringhausen does not leave town, however, and instead begins to spread tales of Alma having been behind Swearengen's murder of Mr. Garret. Swearengen quickly realizes that she is not what she seems to be, and she confirms that she was indeed sent by Mr. Garret's family to wrest control of what promises to be a lucrative claim away from Alma, by any means necessary. Swearengen appears to go along with the plan to frame Alma, but correctly identifies Isringhausen as a
PinkertonThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton had become famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton...
, whom he despises as inferior to even his own admittedly low moral standards, and, more importantly, he calculates that the entrance of large and powerful interests from outside the camp would be inimical to his own interests. Therefore, he makes plans with Bullock to double cross Isringhausen by getting her to document her scheme rather than exposing it.
Commissioner Jarry
Commissioner Hugo Jarry (
Stephen TobolowskyStephen Harold Tobolowsky is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, as well as portraying Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood for nine episodes and Bob Bishop in Heroes for eleven episodes over the second and third seasons.-Early life:Tobolowsky was born...
) is the representative of Yankton in the camp. Bullock must protect him from an enraged mob of prospectors who fear their gold claims will be invalidated when the camp is incorporated into Dakota. Swearengen, with the assistance of Bullock, Star, and Adams, forces Jarry to make concessions to Deadwood in order to outbid Montana on annexation. He returns in Season 3 having bought the votes of soldiers for Hearst. He implies to Adams he may be in some trouble for having defrauded the county of money intended for the reservations for his own gain.
Maddie
Maddie (
Alice KrigeAlice Maud Krige is a South African actress known for introducing the role of the Borg Queen in the motion picture Star Trek: First Contact. She reprised her role for the final episode of the television series Star Trek: Voyager....
) is a "Madame" of considerable reputation in the West, known both to Cy Tolliver and Mr. Wolcott. When Joanie Stubbs decides to set up her own whorehouse, the Chez Amis, she invites Maddie to join in the enterprise as her partner. Maddie and her three whores arrive in Deadwood in the first episode of Season 2 on the same stagecoach as Mrs. Bullock and William Bullock. She decided to join Joanie when she learned that Mr. Wolcott would soon be moving to Deadwood as the frontman for George Hearst. She apparently got to know Wolcott, and his predilection for killing prostitutes, at one of Hearst's earlier camps, likely in Montana. She plans for Wolcott to murder a young prostitute she knows he favors, and then extort from Wolcott money for her "long and comfortable" retirement. Wolcott does exactly what she expects him to do, murdering two of the Chez Ami prostitutes under Maddie's manipulation and watchful eye. Her scheme fails when she wanders too close to Wolcott's still-bloody straight razor, allowing him to grab her and cut her throat with a single swipe.
Mose Manuel
Mose Manuel (
Pruitt Taylor VincePruitt Taylor Vince is an American award-winning character actor who has made many appearances in film and television.-Personal life:Vince was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
) owns a gold claim which Wolcott wishes to buy on behalf of Hearst. Knowing he must sell, he tries to persuade his brother that he will mismanage the operation and ought to sell. When he refuses, Mose murders him. The death of his brother weighs on him, however, and Mose becomes a continuing problem for Cy Tolliver as his already belligerent attitude worsens. Wolcott provokes him and Tolliver's men shoot him down. But because of his immense size, the bullets do not penetrate his vital organs and Cochran is able to save his life. He recovers on the Chez Ami's floor and once healed remains there as watchman, a changed man from his near death experience.
Andy Cramed
Andy Cramed (
Zach GrenierZach Grenier is an American actor who has worked on film, television and stage. He appeared on first season of the television show 24 as Carl Webb, in Deadwood, and on several episodes of Law & Order...
) is a conman who has often worked with Cy Tolliver and is set to do so again until he arrives in Deadwood suffering from smallpox. He is taken to the woods and left to die on Tolliver's orders, but is discovered by Jane. After his convalescence in the smallpox tent and aiding in the distribution of the vaccine, he leaves.
He eventually returns as an ordained minister in the second season, conducting the funeral service of William Bullock and the marriage of Alma and Ellsworth. In the second season finale he attacks Tolliver for mocking God and his new found faith in front of him, stabbing him in the gut and walking away. He attempts to make recompence in Season 3 by asking for Tolliver's forgiveness. Tolliver threatens him with a gun, ranting about redemption, but Leon interrupts them and Cramed leaves, disgusted with Tolliver's behaviour.
Captain Joe Turner
Captain Joseph "
Joe"
Turner (Alan Graf) is an enforcer and bodyguard to George Hearst. First seen in the second season ruthlessly safeguarding Hearst's mining operation and dealing with thieves, he joins his employer by his side when he arrives in the third season. He helps Hearst assault Swearengen, and later taunts Swearengen's muscleman Dan Dority into a public brawl; a fight set up to prove Hearst's superiority over Swearengen. Despite initially gaining the upper hand, Dority tears out Turner's left eye in a move of desperation before beating him to death with a makeshift club.
Jen
Jen (Jennifer Lutheran) is one of Swearengen's prostitutes in the Gem Saloon. Petite, blonde, pretty, she is demure in a way that belies her occupation. She is learning to read with the help of Johnny Burns, who has a growing affection for her. He defends her against the coarseness of Morgan Earp and stands up to Swearengen when Al schemes to appease Hearst's demand for the death of Trixie by killing Jen and substituting her body for Trixie's. Johnny fails to stop Al, and the ruse is carried out successfully.
Eddie Sawyer
Eddie Sawyer (portrayed by
Ricky JayRichard Jay "Ricky" Potash , better known by the stage name Ricky Jay, is an American stage magician, actor, and writer. He is a sleight-of-hand expert and is notable for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter.-Biography:Jay was born in Brooklyn, New York to a middle class...
) appears in the first season. A
card sharpA card sharp is a person who uses skill and deception to win at poker or other card games. Such a person is also known in card gaming jargon as a "mechanic"....
at Cy Tolliver's Bella Union saloon, Sawyer had worked with Tolliver for 17 years and was one of Cy's most reliable hands. He became disillusioned by his boss's callousness at sending Andy Cramed to die in the woods and torturing two young thieves, sulking around the Bella Union and embarrassing Tolliver at a town meeting. He decided to rob Cy in retaliation, in part to fund Joanie Stubbs in opening her own brothel. In the second season, Tolliver revealed that he knew Eddie had been stealing but that he had left the camp before Cy could take any form of retaliation.
Cy accuses Eddie of being a homosexual pedophile, on the grounds that Eddie was overly disturbed to see Cy beating and murdering the thieves who tried to rob The Bella Union.
Claudia
Claudia (portrayed by
Cynthia EttingerCynthia Ettinger is an American actress. From 1990 to 1993, she was married to American singer and television performer Wally Kurth. Ettinger was originally cast as Martha Kent for Smallville, but during filming everyone realized that she was not right for the role, including Ettinger...
) arrives in the third season as part of Langrishe's theater troup. She has a sexual relationship with Con Stapleton and is jealous of Langrishe's relationships with Josiane and Mary.