My Bacon number is 4, what's yours?

I am very excited.

I have discovered that I genuinely am separated from Kevin Bacon by less than six degrees.*

I work with Alice Fishburn (one degree of separation) who had a flatmate (two degrees) who has a cousin (three degrees) who is married, married I tell you, to Kevin Bacon (four degrees).

So there you go.

Can anyone reading this blog do better? Or can you give me someone as distinguished as Mr Bacon to whom you are linked by six or fewer jumps?

(* The idea of six degrees of separation comes from the "small world" experiment conducted by social psychologist Stanley Milgram.

Milgram sent several packages to 160 random people living in Omaha, Nebraska, asking them to forward the package to a friend or acquaintance who they thought would bring the package closer to a set final individual, a stockbroker from Boston, Massachusetts.

He found that the majority of packages arrived within five or six steps. The result is sometimes questioned because those packages that never arrived were simply eliminated from the data set.

Nevertheless the phrase "six degrees of separation" stuck. In the early 1990s it became a college bar game to link any given actor or actress to Kevin Bacon via films in which they have acted, in less than six steps.

Take Ronald Reagan. He was in The Young Doctors (1961) with Eddie Albert. Albert was in The Big Picture (1989). So Reagan's Bacon number is 2.)

Comments

[MikeA]

One of our family friends (my wife's best friend) lives in Falmouth. This friend is very friendly with the one of the sisters of Christian Bale the famous actor. So I can link to Christian Bale with three degrees of separation and to any hollywood A-lister with four degrees (Kevin Bacon included). So my Bacon number is also 4, as it is for all the Holywood A-Listers. Beat that!

[Jim]

My degree of seperration is 1....

I slept in a bed that he bought for my mate, when I lived in Los Angeles my friend who had moved there was bought a bed by Kevin Bacon.

[Greg Lorriman]

My Bacon number is -2: I am Kevin Bacon's shadow, though I'm having a holiday at the moment, in Surrey.

[Jules]

My mum (one degree) has a friend (two degrees) who is cousins with Billy Connolly! Does that beat Kevin Bacon in four?

[Julian Sweet]

Also a 4,

My girlfriend Pirjo is from Finland and met Renny Harlin in a bar in Pori and asked him 'It is you isn't it?' He gave her a High Five and said 'Its good isn't it!'.

Renny directed Cliffhanger with John Lithgow who starred in Footloose with Kevin Bacon.

Without Footloose there would be no Bacon Numbers!

[Pat MacDonar]

My least favourite film of all time is Hollowman, which stars Bacon so ehmm that makes 2.

[Simon Chapman]

"Can anyone reading this blog do better?"

Alice Fishburn can - I assume she reads your posts Danny....?

[Adrian]

How many people have we ever met, no matter how briefly? 1000? 2000? 10,000? If 1000, 3 Bacon steps would reach 1 billion people. If 2000, 8 billion, the whole population of the world.

[Happy American]

I got it in three. A friend from high school (first degree) worked as a cameraman on "About Schmidt," which starred Jack Nicholson (second degree). Nicholson worked in "A Few Good Men" with Kevin Bacon. That makes three!

[Sherry]

My friend Brad (1) used to hang out with John Corbett (2) in Seattle, who was in 'Sex & The City' with Sarah Jessica Parker (3), who was in 'Footloose' with Kevin Bacon (4).

[Will Dukes]

Someone said that if everyone knows 2000 people then anyone can reach the whole population of the Earth in 3 steps (2000)X(2000)X(2000)=8 billion. This is only correct if you assume that the 2000 people you know each know 2000 people (here's the important part) other than the 2000 people you know. Most of our friends are friends mostly with other people we know, so the previous poster's logic doesn't work.

[rob]

Meryl Streep screamed at me for invading her privacy. I was bicycling in Venice [CA] and I saw some [older] woman in a $5K+ bike [Kestrel]. I was interested in her bike - to hell with Meryl..... Would that make my Streep number 1 or is it 0 ?

Rob

[William]

My Bacon number is about 2000 to 3000, approximately. Unfortunately, this isn't the highest Bacon number, which is owned by a yak-herder in Uzbekistan.

[O'Neal Compton]

I think my KB number would be 1. I am a screenwriter and film actor. I have not worked in a film with Kevin, but I did have the pleasure of a business lunch several years ago with his wife, Kyra Sedgewick. Also, I have been in many films with other actors who have worked with Kevin: Here is a partial list with the Film (in paren) that I appeared in with the actor:
Lawrence Fishburne (What’s Love Got to do With It?)
Neve Campbell (Party of Five)
Maximilion Schell (Deep Impact)
J.T. Walsh (Nixon)
Whoopi Goldberg (Made in America)
Christopher Guest (directed me in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
Wolfgang Bodison (Little Big League)
Sharon Stone (Diabolique)
Teri Hatcher (Superman –TV)
Oliver Stone (directed both of us, him in JFK, me in Nixon)
Holly Hunter (The Absolutely True Adventures of the Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom)
Jamie Gertz (Don’t Tell Her It’s Me)
Ellen Barkin (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
Steve Guttenberg (Don’t Tell Her It’s Me)

[Garrett Doyle]

My cousin Lee Montgomery was in "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" with Sarah Jessica Parker who was in "Footloose" with Kevin Bacon. That's three steps, right?

[tomc]

number 1-- i met him in the NYC subway back in the late 70's-- we had both auditioned for the same show (some scottish football play) and my bud and i saw him in the subway-- my friend had gone to a summer course at Bucknell University with him-- he seemed nice

[Steve Calascione]

Hang on Daniel you're confusing me I was thinking in terms of dry stone walls.

Humm, let me see, I have no idea what the Kevin Bacon # is but Billy Connolly must be 2, probably..

[Claire]

My great uncle's mother was Mick Jagger's mother's cousin. So what's that, 3? 4?

[Arthur Lim Bim Bus Stop Fatang Fatang]

Everyone in Canada has a Kevin Bacon number of 3 at least by virtue of the fact that Don McKellar(Where the Truth Lies-2005)
is a film whore.

[Larry]

I'm just a 3.

My Grandfather was in The Cowboys with John Wayne. John Wayne was in How the West Was Won with Eli Wallach.
Eli Wallach was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon.

But I met Mr. T in Reno a few years ago!

[Bay Stater]

Haven't a Bacon Number to my credit, but I was not at all surprised to note that the original epicentre of the "small world" experiment was Boston, Massachusetts which is, of course, the Hub of the Universe. If you are a Bostonian, you don't need a number anything!

[candice]

I guess I'm three.
1. My pastor formed a band with John Stamos (Full House) when they were teenagers.
2. John Stamos was in Party Monster with Wilmer Valderrama.
3. Wilmer Valderrama was in Beauty Shop with Kevin Bacon.

[Jean K]

I was skeptical of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon until I realized that my Kevin Bacon number is 3. My brother went to high school with a girl who starred with Kevin Bacon in the soap opera The Guiding Light.

[AP]

My old friend was a friend of Jodie Foster, and I have another friend who spent a day hanging out with John Cleese when he was doing something in San Francisco. I suspect that either one would prove to be a KB 3, at least in that KB has probably chatted with JF or JC at some point. I've met Martin Sheen--maybe I'm even a KB 2.

My favorite story along these lines goes back to a priest I knew a long, long time ago in San Diego. He had grown up in Los Angeles and I asked if he'd met any celebrities. He said: "I beat up Jerry Lewis's kid once."

[Matthew]

I think the highest "Bacon number" must be for god/God/etc. Many people claim to know him/her/it, but none have actually met him/her/it. Same goes for Santa ... although I am absolutely sure I saw his sleigh flying across the sky one Christmas Eve, when I was 5.

[Arnoux]

A friend of mine was at Kevin Bacon's Thanksgiving dinner last year (his sister had become friendly with Kevin's son, and she invited him), which I guess would give me a Bacon number of 2.

[Campbell Smith]

I can get there in 2 - I was Kiefer Sutherland's stand-in on 'Dark City' and he worked with Kevin Bacon on 'A Few Good Men'.

[Dan]

He sort of looks like me.

[Rob]

Three. I went to the same school as Cheri Nowlan who directed Cate Blanchett in "Thank God He Met Lizzie". Blanchett was in "I'm Not There" with Tyrone Benskin who appeared with Kevin Bacon in "Criminal Law".

[David Chorley]

That's very kind of you; mine's a pint

[Trish]

One. I served him tea when he was in town. He got green tea with honey.

[FancyFree]

My mother's (1) cousin(2) worked at UC Berkeley and his daughter(3) does something big at Fox television where KB has appeared many times. My Bacon number is 4.

[Amy]

My uncle was Joanne Woodward's baby doctor. Joanne is married to Paul Newman. Paul Newman was in a movie with Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise was in the movie A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon.

[Heresiarch]

I was at school with Christian Bale, so I suppose I can claim a link via him.

However, sorry to disappoint Alice and Danny, but neither of you (I think) has a Bacon number. To be eligible, you have to have appeared in a publicly-released film. And your link to Bacon has to be via film credits, not chance meetings or even family relationships.

[Jim]

My mate (1) says he talks to Jesus (2) who knows the heart of everyone, including Kevin Bacon (3).

[Cyndi]

So, I met a girl on a plane on my way back to Cali from a business trip in Texas. Her boyfriend whom I later met at the airport, was in a movie with Kevin Bacon. So 2 degree if you count the girlfriend, 1 if you go by just the boyfriend.

[Tim Worstall]

Now let's do it all again with your Erdos-Bacon number.

[Bob Throbok]

I despise this stupid pointless and pathetic exercise. I had sex with Kevin Bocon once, does the different name make a difference. Do you make a difference? Of course not. What tripe.

[Joe Burns]

My Aunt was Ronald Reagan and Jane
Wyman's nanny-so that would put at 4 except both my aunt and Reagan are no longer living. Can degrees of seperation exist through the spirit world?

[William]

I'm 10 years old and have a KB of 2 (via Forest Whitaker). If you're in the imdb you can look up your number at http://www.oracleofbacon.org

[Robert Woolley]

I have a Kevin Bacon number of 3.

I was at school with David Walliams (number of 2) who accroding to the number of Bacon:

David Walliams was in Stardust (2007) with Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro was in Sleepers (1996) with Kevin Bacon

[Kevin Bacon]

I am Kevin Bacon.

[Tony Francis]

Dear Kevin Bacon, I don't know you. None of my acquaintances know you. No one they know, knows you. But I saw a video of your movie "She's Having a Baby", and I am writing on a blog you wrote on. What is my Kevin Bacon number?

[W.SENNIT FORD]

The game is much more fun if you try and think of the game in the old way by actors separated by films to get the degrees. In L.A.
or Hollywood, almost everyone meets everyone, is seated at a table at some award,or charity function and I started a new version of how many dead celebs are you separated by? A lot tougher because you must be over 30 usually.

[Sadiq Ahmadu-Suka]

I went to school with Carey Elwes (1 degree)we were at Harrow together. I was at Park house and he was at West Acre. I actually knew him socially.

[sajedre]

Who is Kevin Bacon?

[Brett Williams]

Kevin and all you KB# fanatics: Sorry to say that this is all a bunch of bunk. The original research with "6 degrees of separation" is based on is actually not scientifically valid data because of the tiny number of data points it is based upon (letters sent out to random people). BBC did a report on it just recently. It's just a concept we would all like to believe in. Of course, my assessment is also deeply flawed, being based on only one data point!

[Jane]

I'm a 3 unless anyone knows of a closer link between George Clooney and Kevin Bacon than this...

I met George Clooney on the set of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
George Clooney to Julia Roberts (Oceans 11)
Julia Roberts to Kevin Bacon (Flatliners)

(Isn't a 1 to George Clooney much better than an anything to Kevin Bacon?)

[D Day]

My Kevin Bacon number is 2.
I was an extra in a film (All the King's Men) with Sean Penn.
Penn was in Mystic River with Bacon.

[Ian]

While in the Seychelles on business many years ago I was blessed by both Mother Teresa and Archbishop Makarios. Since these two knew everybody I calculate that I am two degrees away from virtually everybody.

[N.A. Ive]

Cardinal Hume gave me a dirty or suspicious look in a Mass (of course I am unworthy and sinful, so that's not surprising). Is that one degree of separation?

[Janice]

I walked across the border from Canada to U.S.A and around the first corner I bumped into...Kevin Bacon who knocked me off my feet...literaly....and he said 'sorry!' does that count as one????

[deeit]

i thought this a load of crap until i found out that mother's (1)friends (2) sister (3) roma downey was in funky monkey with Fred Ward (4) who was in tremors with kevin bacon (5)

[David K]

Being a veggie, I'm not interested in Bacon, but, I'm three away from Bill Clinton. A close family friend had work experience in the States working for Hilary Clinton, I believe she is married to Mr President. Wow! Just realised, I'm only four away from Monica Lewinsky!!!

[Richard]

For the "Bacon Number" you have to appear on screen with someone, that has appeared on screen with Kevin Bacon - all these tenuous links do not count.

For the record; i'm a 3. I was on screen with Stephen Rea in Minder. Stephen Rea was in Angie with Marin Hinkle and Marin Hinkle was in Rails & Ties with Kevin Bacon.

[Jeff]

I'm a three. I had Craig t. Nelson cut through a line I was waiting in. I said "Hey..." and he turned and smiled. I told my buddy "That's Craig Stevens" who I think was in the first season of Mission Impossible in the 60s. Nelson heard me and was going to correct me but thought better of it. Anyway, he has a bacon # of two.

[Ollie]

Shouldn't it be "FEWER than six degrees", as degrees of separation can only be measured in integers?

[Robert, near Miami, FL, USA]

I am 3 degrees - My secretary (1) has a sister who is Charlie Sheen's ex-wife (2), and Charlie Sheen was in the Oliver Stone film Inside Out with Kevin Bacon (3).