Meshach Taylor, the actor best known as the friendly colleague of four Southern women on the popular sitcom “Designing Women,” died on Saturday at his home near Los Angeles. He was 67.

His death was confirmed by his agent, Dede Binder, who said he had had cancer for some time.

Mr. Taylor played Anthony Bouvier, an ex-convict who starts as a deliveryman and eventually becomes a partner at an interior design firm in Atlanta, on “Designing Women,” which ran on CBS from 1986 to 1993. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1989 for his role on the show.

In a career that spanned more than three decades, Mr. Taylor appeared in films, on television and onstage. He was prominently featured in the 1987 film “Mannequin” and on the television shows “Dave’s World” and “Buffalo Bill.” On Broadway, he played Lumiere, the talking candlestick, in “Beauty and the Beast” in 1998.

“Designing Women” centered on the feisty Sugarbaker sisters, played by Dixie Carter and Delta Burke, who run the company, and their co-workers, played by Annie Potts and Jean Smart. Mr. Taylor said that his role had initially been a one-time guest spot in the first season, but the producers liked the energy between him and the sisters.