Last-minute casting call turns out hairy

It was an emergency. Or, as much an emergency as a casting call can be.

With the filming of "Bachelor No. 2," a romantic comedy starring Dane Cook and Kate Hudson, in full swing in Boston, there was dire need for an actor who could step into scenes of a Jewish wedding. Casting directors blasted out an e-mail Thursday night looking for "men who have a rabbinical look with a nice rabbinical beard." Acting experience was not required. A black suit was a plus. They would try out yesterday.

Many sent pictures, including several rabbis from New York, who could not attend the casting call because it was on a Friday, the Jewish Sabbath.

Four people who passed an initial cut based on their photos were asked to show up on the set yesterday afternoon in the Back Bay, where, the e-mail said, the director would make the final pick.

None were Jewish. They all had full beards and, to some measure, experience. One has worked holiday seasons as a Santa Claus at Faneuil Hall. Another played the lead in "Fiddler on the Roof" at a dinner theater in Georgetown about 30 years ago. One played a drunkard in the 1997 Steven Spielberg film, "Amistad," and was an extra in the Red Sox paean "Fever Pitch," though his scenes did not make that film.

"Guys like us, we're not going to get the leading role," said Don Bagley, a portly, balding man who drove from Seabrook, N.H., hoping his "Fiddler on the Roof" experience would work in his favor. "To have an audition for guys that look like us, well, it's rare."

"Beards are kind of out right now," said Dick Leonard, 66, from Quincy. "Say, when was the last time you guys shaved?"

"I haven't shaved in 40 years," said one.

"I've had my beard since '72," said another.

Each came trying to achieve a slightly different look. One wore a black tie; another had a white shirt buttoned to the top.

"They said they were looking for someone rabbinical, so I put on a black suit," said Richard Hirsch, a 76-year-old from Sudbury

In case the director had something else in mind, Leonard had hunted through his closet for something to set him apart. He wore a crisp black suit and pointy black shoes. On his head he wore one of his wife's purses turned inside out, thinking it looked like the headwear of some Russian Jews.

"Do you think they want a rabbi with a Jewish accent, a Boston accent, or no accent?" Leonard asked. "It's a hard call."

At 2:50 p.m., after nearly an hour of waiting, a man who introduced himself as Ramses escorted the men around the corner, under an awning outside a sashimi bar. About 15 minutes later, the director came out, looked them over, asked them about their acting experience, and asked them to say "Barukh ata Adonai," a Hebrew blessing.

He then pointed at Bagley, who was escorted away beaming. Disappointed, the others began walking away. And perhaps, in the end, the right man for the job had been chosen, mused the former Amistad drunk, 59-year-old David Morrow of Amesbury. "He did do Fiddler on the Roof."

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.