# "I'm a Doctor, not a Kevin Bacon" -- six degrees of separation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542 "2010-06-17T14:03:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/21 "2010-06-22T12:24:07Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I’m connected to everyone, ever, by one step because we both lived on the planet earth. > > C’mon, these threads are always so amazingly tenuous. At least in the kevin bacon game, they had to work together on the same movie. In these threads, it’s like just breathing the same air is enough to qualify. **Superhal** , if you don’t want to play, don’t play – but coming into a thread to call the people in it idiots is threadshitting, and it’s jerkish. **twickster**. MPSIMS moderator ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/22 "2010-06-22T14:11:58Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Occasionally I like doing the “six degrees of separation” thing to see if I can connect to someone. Two of our favorites are: > > – Barb was encouraged in her studies by Maeve Leakey, like her husband Richard a paleoanthropologist, who was with him when they unearthed “Turkana Boy”, the type skeleton for _Homo antecessor_. Getting to the early Pleistocene in two steps is something hard to beat. > > – We’re acquainted with a local black Episcopal priest who was mentored by Desmond Tuto, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning archbishop who worked alongside Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Two steps to Tuto and three to the Mandelas is somethng I cherish. > > But what occasions this thread is that I made it to the late DeForest (“Dr. Bones McCoy”) Kelley in six steps today, by the most roundabout connection possible. We have been dinner guests and regular coworkers with Margaret from our church, a longtime Raleigh resident who is friends with the Aiken family and knew Clay as he was growing up. Clay of course was catapulted to stardom by American Idol, of whom one judge is Randy Jackson. And Randy produced records for Travis Tritt, who as a boy earned pocket money by doing odd jobs for neighbors including the Kelley family, meeting Dee when he came home for visits. > > As a longtime Star Trek fan who has always admired the dignity and integrity of Dee Kelley, that roundabout connection is one that I was quite pleasantly surprised to make. I once rented a house from Richard Leakey’s brother. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/23 "2010-06-22T15:48:05Z")
My uncle was head scriptwriter & wrote the pilot for the 1960’s Batman TV show. Not sure what degree of separation that gets me from anyone, but… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/24 "2010-06-22T17:30:32Z")
Tracing back from my grad student in psychology days - 5 degrees of separation (through colleagues/mentoring relationships) from Sigmund Freud! The line includes Alfred Adler and Abraham Maslow; they’re not shabby either. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/25 "2010-06-22T19:23:32Z")
I went to high school and was a Boy Scout in the same troop as two of football coach Frank Kush’s nephews. Kush coached at Arizona State for 22 years and coached the Baltimore Colts from 1982 to 1984. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/26 "2010-06-23T22:12:44Z")
I met Kevin Bacon when they filmed _Footloose_ at my high school. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/27 "2010-06-23T22:14:01Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I met Kevin Bacon when they filmed _Footloose_ at my high school. And I was in a couple of background crowd scenes; I guess I can say I was in a film with KB! ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/28 "2010-06-23T22:27:38Z")
I have two connections to a heck of a lot of Hollywood: my first cousin once removed has worked as an Art Director for some major hollywood movies, starring folks such as Will Smith, Schwarzenegger, J Lo, Brad Pitt, etc. (She is listed in IMDB.) Also, my kids babysitter’s uncle is an actor who among other things has played the head doctor in the insane asylum that Dr House was in last season. I share an office with somebody who has shared the stage with Steve Jobs at WWDC. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/29 "2010-06-24T02:28:47Z")
> [@QuercusMax](#): > > I have two connections to a heck of a lot of Hollywood: my first cousin once removed has worked as an Art Director for some major hollywood movies, starring folks such as Will Smith, Schwarzenegger, J Lo, Brad Pitt, etc. (She is listed in IMDB.) > > Also, my kids babysitter’s uncle is an actor who among other things has played the head doctor in the insane asylum that Dr House was in last season. > > I share an office with somebody who has shared the stage with Steve Jobs at WWDC. Your babysitter’s uncle is Andre Braugher? Awesome actor. ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/30 "2010-06-24T02:48:25Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Your babysitter’s uncle is Andre Braugher? Awesome actor. Yup, that’s the one. (She’s not related to him by blood - Andre is her dad’s sister’s husband. I actually didn’t know his name until right this moment.) ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/31 "2010-06-24T09:28:12Z")
Ok, I’ll play. Using only connections that know eachother, so no “once was in the same room as”. I have 3 steps to President Obama. Me-\> my dad-\> Fredrik Reinfeldt the PM of Sweden-\> Obama. Going by the same route I could connect to all heads of government in the EU I suppose. If I’m going with having met a couple of times I could do it in two steps. But I have not really interacted with Fredrik Reinfeldt since he was heading the youth organisation of the party and I’m sure he doesn’t remember me. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/32 "2010-06-24T13:51:26Z")
> [@Coil](#): > > Ok, I’ll play. Using only connections that know eachother, so no “once was in the same room as”. I have 3 steps to President Obama. > > Me-\> my dad-\> Fredrik Reinfeldt the PM of Sweden-\> Obama. Funny, I was doing the same thing. Me-\> Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education (I work in his Department) -\> David Cameron, UK PM -\> Obama. Actually I can do it in two. Me-\> David Miliband, former Foreign Secretary (I used to work as one of his team) -\> Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Jarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7c8e57/32.png) [@Jarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jarrow)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/33 "2010-06-27T19:43:33Z")
Whenever someone tries to get me to join the latest social network I tend to point out that we are all 6 degrees of separation from every axe murderer in the country, so why would I want to play? I do think it’s interesting that the number 6 is way too high an estimate of the number of links it takes to connect 2 people (at least 2 people in the same country). If I remember what we were taught in Psych 101 some 35 years ago, the experiment that gave an average number of 6 was inherently one-sided. (I think they took random people throughout the country, gave them a bit of info about someone somewhere in the country, and asked them to write to the person who would most likely be able to connect them, and then asked that person to do the same, and so on.) The kicker is that lots of people obviously took a longer route than the shortest one possible. But nobody took a shorter route than the shortest one possible. I’m sure there’s some mathematical term for this kind of distribution. Anyway, IIRC, the average length of the paths people _found_ was 6, so the average length of the shortest path was undoubtedly shorter. Just like everyone was surprised, when they made the website that does the Kevin Bacon number for anyone, to discover how low the numbers really are (and that site uses the strict credited-in-a-speaking-role rule.) Oh, and to answer the OP: I’ve never been in a speaking role so I’m not in IMDB, so I don’t have any connections using the strict rule. But my brother had one line in an 80’s movie, and my father had one line in a 50’s movie, and they each have Kevin Bacon numbers of 3. It’s rare for anyone in Hollywood to NOT have a number of 3 or less. Even Paul Erdos has a Kevin Bacon number of 3. One thing I like about that site (I’m new here, so I don’t know the rules about posting web addresses, so I won’t; it’s easy enough to Google) is that it’s not particularly Bacon-centric; you can get the number for any two people. So, for example, we found that my father and my brother were also connect by 3 steps. But if I _must_ find a connection to Nelson Mandela, well, I once knew South African libertarians Frances Kendall and Leon Louw moderately well. They were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 3 times, in 1988, 1989, and 1991; I can’t find the exact years Nelson Mandela was nominated (several times before he won, I believe), but they probably shared one or more years. Do all the nominees meet each other? I don’t know, but it’s the best I can do. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/34 "2010-06-27T21:26:32Z")
me\>my friend Dale\> Elvis Presley me\> my husband \>Al Gore (speaker at his HS graduation, shook hands w/graduates)\> pretty much the rest of the world ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/35 "2010-06-28T10:00:43Z")
> [@Jarrow](#): > > So, for example, we found that my father and my brother were also connect by 3 steps. Well technically they’re connected by one step, by virtue of being related. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/36 "2010-06-28T12:44:25Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > But what occasions this thread is that I made it to the late DeForest (“Dr. Bones McCoy”) Kelley in six steps today, by the most roundabout connection possible. We have been dinner guests and regular coworkers with Margaret from our church, a longtime Raleigh resident who is friends with the Aiken family and knew Clay as he was growing up. Clay of course was catapulted to stardom by American Idol, of whom one judge is Randy Jackson. And Randy produced records for Travis Tritt, who as a boy earned pocket money by doing odd jobs for neighbors including the Kelley family, meeting Dee when he came home for visits. > > As a longtime Star Trek fan who has always admired the dignity and integrity of Dee Kelley, that roundabout connection is one that I was quite pleasantly surprised to make. Polycarp I too am a StarTrek fan and thanks to your post I also can trace myself to DrForest Kelly. I had performed karaoke at a bar in South Beach where Kelly & Justin were when they were filming their movie. Kelly & Justin were on AI and that makes them one step from Randy Jackson and then the rest as you said. This just made me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7c8e57/32.png) [@Jarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jarrow)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/37 "2010-07-01T07:57:46Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Well technically they’re connected by one step, by virtue of being related. Technically, I guess it depends on the meaning of “technically”. Using the strict rule, they’re connected by 3 steps, and I’m not connected to them at all. Which come to think of it, would explain a lot… ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/38 "2010-07-01T12:00:14Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Well technically they’re connected by one step, by virtue of being related. I think Jarrow is talking about movie acting connections, not “real world” connections, and that the website he is referring to is the Oracle of Bacon: [http://oracleofbacon.org](http://oracleofbacon.org) ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542/39 "2010-07-01T14:40:59Z")
My cousin was, for a time, the personal assistant to Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel. A girl I was aquainted with at nursing school had been friends in high school with the younger sister of Jared Padalecki. My seventh-grade best friend’s sister knew a girl who dated Dave Matthews. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-doctor-not-a-kevin-bacon-six-degrees-of-separation/543542.md?page=1)