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Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon orBacon's Law is aparlor game where players challenge each other to choose an actor whom they connect to another actor via a film in which both actors appeared: this is repeated to try to find the shortest path that leads to prolific American actorKevin Bacon. It rests on the assumption that anyone involved in theHollywood film 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 organization calledSixDegrees.org. In 2020, Bacon started apodcast calledThe Last Degree of Kevin Bacon.[1]
In a January 1994 interview withPremiere magazine, Kevin Bacon mentioned while discussing the filmThe River Wild that "he had worked with everybody in Hollywood or someone who's worked with them."[2] Following this, a lengthynewsgroup thread which was headed "Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe" appeared.[3] In 1994, threeAlbright College students – 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,Footloose andThe 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.[4][5]
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.[6] They appeared onThe Jon Stewart Show andThe Howard Stern Show with 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 (ISBN 9780452278448), with an introduction written by Bacon.[6] A board game based on the concept was released by Endless Games.[7]
In 1995Cartoon Network referenced the concept in a commercial, havingVelma (fromScooby-Doo) as the central figure in the 'Cartoon Network Universe'.[8] 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 You dated 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.[9] Playing himself in a 2003 episode ofWill and Grace, Bacon connects himself toVal Kilmer throughTom Cruise and jokes "Hey, that was a short one!".[10] The headline ofThe Onion, a satirical newspaper, on October 30, 2002, was "Kevin Bacon Linked ToAl-Qaeda".[11] Bacon provides the voice-over commentary for theNY Skyride attraction at theEmpire State Building inNew York City. At several points throughout the commentary, Bacon alludes to his connections to Hollywood stars via other actors with whom he has worked.[citation needed]
InScream 2, written byKevin Williamson, a sorority sister played byPortia De Rossi refers to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.[12] Bacon himself later starred inThe Following, also created and written by Williamson, and broadcast onFox between 2013 and 2015.[13]
The annual31 Days of Oscar event on theTurner Classic Movies television channel sometimes includes a "360 Degrees of Oscar" strand where each film shown shares an actor with the previous one.[14] It has been used as recently as 2020.
In 2009, Bacon narrated aNational Geographic Channel showThe Human Family Tree[15] – a program which describes the efforts of that organization'sGenographic Project to establish the genetic interconnectedness of all humans. Bacon appeared in a commercial for theVisacheck card that 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."[16]
In 2011,James Franco made reference to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon while hosting the83rd Academy Awards.[clarification needed]EE began 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.[17]
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."[18] American rapper MC Zappa also makes reference to the game in his 2018 song "Level Up (The Ill Cypher)".[19]
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.[20][21]
TheBacon number of anactor is the number of degrees of separation they have fromKevin Bacon, as defined by the game. This is an application of theErdős number concept to theHollywood movie industry. The higher the Bacon number, the greater the separation from Kevin Bacon the actor is.[22]
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 Baconand a finiteErdős number because 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 Slater referred him to Bacon. Gotts' photograph of Bacon completed the project, eight years after it began. Gotts published the photos in a book,Degrees (ISBN 0-9546843-6-2), with text byAlan Bates,Pierce Brosnan, and Bacon.[24]
Founded by industry veterans Mike Gasser, Kevin McNulty and game inventor Brian Turtle, Endless Games specializes in games that offer classic entertainment and hours of fun at affordable prices. The three have an uncanny ability for discovering and developing hit games, having been a part in past successes Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.