Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Six Degrees of Kevin BaconorBacon's Lawis aparlor gamewhere players challenge each other to arbitrarily choose an actor and then connect them to another actor via a film that both actors have appeared in together, repeating this process to try to find the shortest path that ultimately leads to prolific American actorKevin Bacon. It rests on the assumption that anyone involved in theHollywoodfilm industry can be linked through their film roles to Bacon within six steps. The game's name is a reference to "six degrees of separation", a concept that posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart.
In 2007, Bacon started acharitable organizationcalledSixDegrees.org. In 2020, Bacon started apodcastcalledThe Last Degree of Kevin Bacon.
In a January 1994 interview withPremieremagazine, Kevin Bacon mentioned while discussing the filmThe River Wildthat "he had worked with everybody in Hollywood or someone who's worked with them."Following this, a lengthynewsgroupthread which was headed "Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe" appeared.In 1994, threeAlbright Collegestudents - Craig Fass, Brian Turtle and Mike Ginelli - invented the game that became known as "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" after seeing two movies on television that featured Bacon back to back,FootlooseandThe Air Up There. During the latter film they began to speculate on how many movies Bacon had been in and the number of people with whom he had worked.
They wrote a letter to talk show hostJon Stewart, telling him that "Kevin Bacon was the center of the entertainment universe" and explaining the game.They appeared onThe Jon Stewart ShowandThe Howard Stern Showwith Bacon to explain the game. Bacon admitted that he initially disliked the game because he believed it was ridiculing him, but he eventually came to enjoy it. The three inventors released a book,Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon(ISBN9780452278448), with an introduction written by Bacon.A board game based on the concept was released by Endless Games.
In 1995Cartoon Networkreferenced the concept in a commercial, havingVelma(fromScooby-Doo) as the central figure in the 'Cartoon Network Universe'.The commercial cites connections as arbitrary as fake appearances, sharing of clothes, or physical resemblance.
The concept was also presented in an episode of the TV showMad About Youdated November 19, 1996, in which a character expressed the opinion that every actor is only three degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Bacon spoofed the concept himself in a cameo he performed for the independent filmWe Married Margo.Playing himself in a 2003 episode ofWill and Grace, Bacon connects himself toVal KilmerthroughTom Cruiseand jokes "Hey, that was a short one!".The headline ofThe Onion, a satirical newspaper, on October 30, 2002, was "Kevin Bacon Linked ToAl-Qaeda".Bacon provides the voice-over commentary for theNY Skyrideattraction at theEmpire State BuildinginNew York City. At several points throughout the commentary, Bacon alludes to his connections to Hollywood stars via other actors with whom he has worked.
InScream 2, written byKevin Williamson, a sorority sister played byPortia De Rossirefers to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.Bacon himself later starred inThe Following, also created and written by Williamson, and broadcast onFoxbetween 2013 and 2015.
The annual31 Days of Oscarevent on theTurner Classic Moviestelevision channel sometimes includes a "360 Degrees of Oscar" strand where each film shown shares an actor with the previous one.It has been used as recently as 2020.
In 2009, Bacon narrated aNational Geographic ChannelshowThe Human Family Tree– a program which describes the efforts of that organization'sGenographic Projectto establish the genetic interconnectedness of all humans. Bacon appeared in a commercial for theVisacheck cardthat referenced the game. In the commercial, Bacon wants to write a check to buy a book, but the clerk asks for his ID, which he does not have. He leaves and returns with a group of people, then says to the clerk, "Okay, I was in a movie with an extra, Eunice, whose hairdresser, Wayne, attended Sunday school with Father O'Neill, who plays racquetball with Dr. Sanjay, who recently removed the appendix of Kim, who dumped you sophomore year. So you see, we're practically brothers."
In 2011,James Francomade reference to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon while hosting the83rd Academy Awards.EEbegan a UK television advertising campaign in November 2012, based on the Six Degrees concept, where Bacon illustrates his connections and draws attention to how the EE 4G network allows similar connectivity.
In"Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Lame Claim to Fame", one of the lines is, "I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Kevin Bacon."American rapper MC Zappa also makes reference to the game in his 2018 song "Level Up (The Ill Cypher)".
The most highly connected nodes of the Internet have been referred to as "the Kevin Bacons of the Web", inasmuch as they enable most users to navigate to most sites in 19 clicks or less.
TheBacon numberof anactoris the number of degrees of separation they have fromKevin Bacon, as defined by the game. This is an application of theErdős numberconcept to theHollywoodmovie industry. The higher the Bacon number, the greater the separation from Kevin Bacon the actor is.
The computation of a Bacon number for actor X is a "shortest path"algorithm, applied to theco-stardom network:
Because some people have both a finite Baconanda finiteErdős numberbecause of acting and publications, there are a rare few who have a finiteErdős–Bacon number, which is defined as the sum of a person's independent Erdős and Bacon numbers.
Inspired by the game, the British photographer Andy Gotts tried to reach Kevin Bacon through photographic links instead of film links.
Gotts wrote to 300 actors asking to take their pictures and received permission only fromJoss Ackland. Ackland then suggested that Gotts photographGreta Scacchi, with whom he had appeared in the filmWhite Mischief. Gotts proceeded from there, asking each actor to refer him to one or more friends or colleagues. Eventually,Christian Slaterreferred him to Bacon. Gotts' photograph of Bacon completed the project, eight years after it began. Gotts published the photos in a book,Degrees(ISBN0-9546843-6-2), with text byAlan Bates,Pierce Brosnan, and Bacon.