Tony Award-winning Broadway actor Gary Beach, who brought Lumiere to life in the Broadway premiere of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and earned a Tony Award for his show-stopping, Judy Garland-tinged take on The Producers’ Roger De Bris, died July 17 in Palm Springs, California. He was 70.

His death was confirmed to Playbill by his agent, Steven Unger.

Beach began his Broadway career in 1969 as the understudy for the role of Edward Rutledge in the original Broadway cast of 1776 (he later assumed the role full-time). Beach’s next Broadway outing was the short-lived musical Something’s Afoot, which ran for 61 performances in 1976.

His greatest roles came later in life, originating the role of the dashing candlestick Lumiere, who beckoned Belle to "Be Our Guest" in Beauty and the Beast—the lavish musical that ushered Disney to Broadway in 1994.

Perhaps his biggest triumph was as director Roger De Bris in Mel Brooks' 2001 hit The Producers—a role Beach imbued with the dedication of an old-fashioned, heart-on-his-sleeve show queen who finally got his moment in the spotlight. His performance earned him the 2001 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. It was a role he reprised in the 2005 film adaptation alongside fellow original Broadway cast members Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

Beach continued to appear on Broadway, returning as Albin the 2004 revival of Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles, and as Thénardier in the 2006 revival of Les Misérables.

Gary Beach was born October 10, 1947, in Alexandria, Virginia. He is survived by his husband, Jeff Barnett.