SHORT TAKES : Busfield Beards Beard for Role

Timothy Busfield plays a naval officer in the Broadway play “A Few Good Men,” which means he had to shave the red beard he wears on “thirtysomething.” Busfield told the New York Daily News that the beard was merely a gimmick to help him get the Elliot role on “thirtysomething.” “I know I look young and, when I auditioned for the part four years ago, I wasn’t even thirty-something,” he said. “I was 29. But I wanted the part, so I figured one way of making myself look older was growing a beard. I kept putting off an audition until I thought it was full enough. Now I guess I’ll have to start growing it again.”