Tony winner Gary Beach dies at 70

Tony winner Gary Beach, best known for his portrayal of a terrible theatre director in Mel Brooks’ monster hit “The Producers”, is no more. According to his agent, Steven Unger, Gary died aged 70 on July 17 at his home in Palm Springs, California.

The cause of his death is unknown as of yet.

The Broadway and TV veteran featured in several roles including that of Lumiere in “Beauty and the Beast” and “Albin” in the 2004 revival of La Cage aux Folles, both of which earned him Tony nominations.

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His work in The “Producers” got him appraisal from all quarters. “The Producers” opened in 2001 and starred Nathan Lane as Max, Matthew Broderick as Leo, Cady Huffman as Ulla and Roger Bart as Carmen Ghia. In this, Gary played the self-absorbed and beyond-flamboyant director who gets to go on as Hitler and leads the cast in Springtime For Hitler, the show’s most famous number. He reprised the role in the 2005 film.

Gary was born in Alexandria, Virginia. At the age of 11, he saw the original road tour of “The Music Man”, starring Forrest Tucker, at Washington’s National Theatre and was hooked on musical theatre. In an old interview, talking about his love for arts, Gary said, “I always wanted to be a performer, but it never occurred to me to be a television performer or a movie actor. To me, it was always Broadway.”