# Questions about Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 9, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664 "2025-07-09T16:16:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/21 "2025-07-10T15:32:16Z")
P.S. **Stan Lee** is way ahead of Kevin Bacon now! The MCU is distorting the whole movie-verse! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/22 "2025-07-10T15:40:14Z")
Not precisely the MCU-- Lee had cameos in most of the Marvel-affiliated movies even before it was the MCU, and of course he wasn’t in the later MCU movies. But yeah, those cameos give him a lot of connections. On the other hand, there’s a lot of redundancy in them, too: Like, he has a lot of different connections to Scarlett Johansson, or to Robert Downey Jr., and they have a lot of connections to the same people. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/23 "2025-07-10T15:42:49Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > It would be interesting to know what Bacon’s ranking was back when 6 Degrees was first invented - several of the people now ahead of him surely wouldn’t have been, back then. In 2004, the _New Yorker_ reported that the most “connected” actor at the time was Burgess Meredith. (As in, he’d been dead for seven years but still had the most connections as of that date.) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/24 "2025-07-10T21:08:36Z")
Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/25 "2025-07-11T03:59:06Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > If group credits count (that is, being a member of a group who appeared in a film where the name of the group but not individuals appears in the credits), I have a Bacon number of 3. But so do vast numbers of other people. Totally counts according to this: [https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/50851/how-does-the-bacon-number-work-exactly](https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/50851/how-does-the-bacon-number-work-exactly) In fact, you don’t even need to be in a named group. A simple crowd extra counts. So my Bacon number is 2 since I was a crowd extra in Batman: The Dark Knight during the funeral parade scene. (I believe my then-girlfriend/now-life-partner and I can be seen at the lower left of the crowd on the sidewalk at minute marker 2:46 here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTFjeMITIuY&ab\_channel=MarvelousMovieClips4KHDR](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTFjeMITIuY&ab_channel=MarvelousMovieClips4KHDR) .) And Gary Oldman with a Bacon number of 1 was even in that scene. (Actually, pretty much every major role except Bruce Wayne/Batman was in that scene. And we saw Aaron Eckhart pick his nose.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/26 "2025-07-11T04:02:42Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > So my Bacon number is 2 since I was a crowd extra in Batman: The Dark Knight during the funeral parade scene. Me too! I’ve got a Bacon number of 2, after appearing in a scene with Kevin Costner. Not as a member of the crowd; I was the guy who walked into the store behind him. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/27 "2025-07-11T12:11:10Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > And the obvious pun on Six Degrees of Separation I think this is the part most people forget. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/28 "2025-07-11T15:09:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It wasn’t a random pick. Bacon had inspired the idea in an interview when he said he had worked with everybody in Hollywood or someone who’s worked with them. Being inspired by an offhand comment in an interview isn’t the same as doing research. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/29 "2025-07-11T15:57:16Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Being inspired by an offhand comment in an interview isn’t the same as doing research. You missed my point. Your post implied that Fass, Ginelli, and Turtle just happened to pick Bacon as the subject of their game. I was pointing out the reason they picked him. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/30 "2025-07-11T18:18:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Your post implied that Fass, Ginelli, and Turtle just happened to pick Bacon as the subject of their game. Your post implied that Bacon wanted people to use him as the best example of an actor connected to every other actor. He didn’t. He never thought that someone would decide to create a game based on his offhand comment. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/31 "2025-07-11T18:37:28Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > > [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > > > So my Bacon number is 2 since I was a crowd extra in Batman: The Dark Knight during the funeral parade scene. > > Me too! I’ve got a Bacon number of 2, after appearing in a scene with Kevin Costner. My Bacon number is 1, after appearing in a crowd scene in _Patriots Day_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/32 "2025-07-11T18:43:59Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Your post implied that Bacon wanted people to use him as the best example of an actor connected to every other actor. He didn’t. He never thought that someone would decide to create a game based on his offhand comment. I agree that Bacon did not seek to start this game and I don’t feel I implied that. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/33 "2025-07-11T20:16:24Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > [@Spoons](#): > > > > > [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > > > > > So my Bacon number is 2 since I was a crowd extra in Batman: The Dark Knight during the funeral parade scene. > > > > Me too! I’ve got a Bacon number of 2, after appearing in a scene with Kevin Costner. > > My Bacon number is 1, after appearing in a crowd scene in _Patriots Day_. Now we just need Kevin Bacon to chime in on this thread about his Bacon number of 0. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/34 "2025-07-11T23:54:39Z")
By the way, this [site](https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet/freetools/collab-dist) will calculate Erdős numbers, though it seems a bit finicky - it gives my thesis advisor an Erdős number of 5, which ought give me one of 6, but it can’t find the papers I wrote with my advisor, so I’m persona non grata Erdős-wise. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/35 "2025-07-12T00:28:47Z")
What were the journals these papers were in? Were they too minor to be noticed? The one paper that I had published in a refereed journal no longer exists and was strictly for undergraduates anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/36 "2025-07-12T00:43:41Z")
It’s been some decades ago, so I’ll have to check to refresh my memory, but as you say, the publications may have been too minor to count. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/37 "2025-07-12T01:05:55Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > By the way, this [site](https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet/freetools/collab-dist) will calculate Erdős numbers, though it seems a bit finicky Yeah, quite finicky. I have a clean Erdős number of 3, but that site doesn’t trace it. (My rather limited acting career, however, wreaks havoc on my Erdős-Bacon number.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/38 "2025-07-12T01:11:21Z")
I have never appeared in a movie so my Bacon number is infinite. I have never published a paper so my Erdos number is also infinite. I add these two together and my Cantor number is two. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/39 "2025-07-12T01:20:26Z")
I have a Bacon number of 3 thanks to my appearance on [The Johnny Downs Show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Downs#The_Johnny_Downs_Show) in the early 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664/40 "2025-07-12T02:21:01Z")
_The Johnny Downs Show_ is a television show, so it doesn’t count for Bacon numbers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon/1020664.md?page=3)