One noteworthy Nightly News broadcast Utley appeared on January 22, 1973, the day the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade decision.

In the midst of that broadcast (fed to affiliates at 6:30 p.m. Eastern), and just before reporting on the decision, news broke that former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson had died.

In the US, from January 1989 to December 1991, he moderated NBC's long-running public affairs discussion program Meet the Press, while simultaneously hosting the newly debuted Sunday version of the Today Show.

In 1992, Utley issued a controversial commentary essay at the close of a weekend newscast, expressing a view that then-President George H. W. Bush should forgo reelection in the interest of the country.

[citation needed] For a time, Utley hosted the PBS opera series Live from the Met, during which he introduced the televised performances and interviewed the participants during intermissions.

He was survived by his wife, Gertje Utley (née Rommeswinkel); his brothers, David and Jonathan; and his sister-in-law, Carol Marin, a longtime reporter at NBC station WMAQ.