Gary Beach, who won a featured-actor Tony Award in 2001 for Mel Brooks' musical "The Producers," died Monday in Palm Springs, Calif., his agent confirmed Wednesday. No cause of death was given.
Beach also scored Tony nominations for playing the candlestick Lumiere in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" in 1994 and a decade later for his portrayal of the drag star Albin in the revival of Jerry Herman's "La Cage aux Folles."
Beach's other Broadway credits include "1776," "Annie," "Doonesbury" and "Les Miserables," but he's best-known for his gleefully flamboyant turn in "The Producers." Accepting the Tony for that show, Beach said, "I am the happiest boy in the fifth grade."
The Baruch Frankel Routh Viertel Group, the producers of "The Producers," said "Gary Beach, an actor of consummate skill and artistry, was a glorious human being; a gifted, generous and incredibly funny actor whose presence in a rehearsal room or on the stage lifted everyone's spirit and inspired them to be the best they could be .
"His joyous, Tony Award winning performance as Roger DeBris will remain forever in our minds and hearts as the personification of the joyous spirit of Mel Brooks' 'The Producers,'" they added.
Beach is survived by his husband, Jeff Barnett.
