Dick Latessa, whose long New York stage career started in the 1960s and culminated in 2003 with a Tony Award for playing the adoring husband Wilbur Turnblad in the hit musical comedy “Hairspray,” died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87.

A daughter, Gabrielle Latessa Ortiz, said the cause was heart failure.

Mr. Latessa brought warmth and believability to Wilbur, whose wife, Edna, was played in drag by Harvey Fierstein. In their showstopping number, “(You’re) Timeless to Me,” Mr. Latessa looked besotted as he wrapped his arms tightly around Mr. Fierstein’s considerable waist and sang:

You’re like a stinky old cheese, babe,

Just gettin’ riper with age.

You’re like a fatal disease, babe,

But there’s no cure

So let this fever rage.

“Hairspray,” based on the John Waters movie of the same name, follows Tracy Turnblad, the plus-size daughter of Edna and Wilbur, as she pursues racial equality on a local dance show in early-1960s Baltimore.

In an interview on the “Today” show, Mr. Latessa said, “I think we have the best time of any couple on Broadway.”

On Facebook on Tuesday, Mr. Fierstein wrote: “Whenever one of the kids in the show had a problem, we’d send them up to Dick’s room for a lesson on how to be a pro and keep their heads straight in our crazy business. I loved and adored him and, no insult to any other actor opposite whom I performed ‘Hairspray,’ there was no one like Latessa.”