Michael McCarty, a veteran stage actor, died Sept. 26, 2014, in Santa Barbara, where he was performing in a production of Amadeus. The cause was heart failure. He was 68.

Amadeus, Mr. McCarty's final credit, was an important play in his career. He also performed in the original 1980 production on Broadway.

Mr. McCarty made his Broadway debut in 1977 as an understudy in a show called Dirty Linen & New-Found-Land. In King of Hearts a year later, he graduated to a cast member.

He specialized in florid, outsized characters—some public servants, some rascals, some both at the same time. He was Mr. Bumble in a 1984 Broadway revival of the musical Oliver! and the King in Big River the next year. He was President William Howard Taft in the short-lived musical Teddy & Alice and Beadle Bamford in the 1989 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd.

More recently, he played Colonel Erhard in To Be or Not to Be and Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins. He was also in the most recent Broadway productions of Oklahoma! and 42nd Street. Off-Broadway, he was in Flaherty and Ahrens' Lucky Stiff at Playwrights Horizons in 1988; and played Sydney Greenstreet in Ten Chimneys, a 2012 play about the life of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.

Mr. McCarty's film credits included roles in "The Legend of Bagger Vance," "Casper" and "Dudley Do-Right." On television he appeared on "ER," "3rd Rock From The Sun" and "Murder One."

He is survived by an ex-wife.