Kevin Bacon, who turns 67 today, remains a beloved figure in Hollywood thanks to his enduring career and the cultural phenomenon known as the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” This party game, inspired by Bacon’s extensive filmography, challenges players to connect any actor to him through just six steps. While he initially disliked the game, Bacon embraced it fully, transforming its appeal into charitable efforts and a 2024 podcast titled Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon.
Bacon’s career spans over five decades, with notable work in film, television, music, and theater. Despite his fame from the 1984 hit Footloose, he has ventured far beyond that role while also managing personal challenges, including being a victim of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Alongside his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, he shares a life as a musician, farmer, and parent to their talented children, actress Sosie Bacon and musician Travis Bacon.
Kevin Bacon’s Early Musical Beginnings
Long before fame, Bacon was already pursuing creative outlets. At just 12 years old, he was the drummer in a soul band intriguingly named Footloose—a name that mirrors the film that would later define his career. This early connection to music highlights his diverse talents and foreshadows the cultural impact he would have decades later.
Meeting Kyra Sedgwick Years Before Their On-Screen Collaboration
Contrary to popular belief, Kevin Bacon met his future wife Kyra Sedgwick approximately ten years before they acted together in the PBS telefilm Lemon Sky. Sedgwick’s mother was an admirer of Bacon’s work, encouraging her daughter to see him in an off-Broadway play. During a matinee break, a young Kyra approached Bacon, recalling the moment years later when Bacon admitted to what he now views as a “kind of misogynistic” interaction.
“I was doing a lot of off Broadway many years before [Lemon Sky],”
Bacon recounted to Drew Barrymore.
“Her mom had seen me in some plays off Broadway, and she knew that little 12-year-old Kyra wanted to be an actor, and she said ‘There is this actor that I think you should go see’ and got her tickets to a play that I was doing in the Village. In between the matinee and the evening performance — she saw the matinee — I was buying a sandwich in the deli around the corner and this 12-year-old girl came up and said ‘Hi. I liked you in the play.’ According to her, I said ‘Thanks, sweetie‘ … kind of misogynistic.”
—Kevin Bacon, Actor
“She tells the story that, when we first met on Lemon Sky, she said, ‘You know, we met in the Village after that play. Do you remember that?’ She did not like me. It was not love at first sight.”
—Kevin Bacon, Actor
Adding to their connection, a 2013 episode of PBS’s Finding Your Roots revealed that Bacon and Sedgwick are ninth cousins, blending personal and professional ties.
Kevin Bacon’s Difficult Premiere Night for Animal House
One of Bacon’s earliest film appearances was in the cult classic Animal House, directed by John Landis, who recruited Bacon directly from acting school. As a newcomer without representation, Bacon found himself seated among regular audience members at the premiere, an experience he humorously recalls as humiliating. At the following premiere party, he was unrecognized due to a grown-out ROTC haircut, making that night a memorable low point early in his career.
“Nobody recognized me from the movie.”
—Kevin Bacon, Actor
Reflecting on the experience during an interview with Howard Stern, Bacon joked, calling it the “worst night of my life” before returning to acting school with humbled determination.
Broadway Role Between Major Film Successes
Between the release of Animal House and Footloose, Bacon showcased his stage skills on Broadway. In 1983, he joined the original cast of John Byrne’s Scottish play Slab Boys, alongside future stars Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. The New York Times critic Frank Rich noted that while it was a stretch for Bacon to portray a Scottish bully so soon after his role as a wealthy rich kid in Diner, he succeeded in capturing a complex character driven by “yearning, self-pity and rage.”
“Mixture of yearning, self-pity and rage.”
—Frank Rich, New York Times critic (on Bacon’s role in Slab Boys)
Immersing Himself in High School Life to Prepare for Footloose
To authentically depict Ren McCormack, the rebellious city teen in the 1984 film Footloose, Bacon spent a day undercover as a high school student in Provo, Utah. With permission from the school principal, Bacon, then 24, took on the role of an ‘exchange student’ from Philadelphia, complete with spiky hair and a skinny tie. He deliberately positioned himself as an outsider and experienced first-hand the challenges faced by his character when pushed to the margins by classmates.
“It was so much like the movie,”
Bacon told hosts on The TODAY Show.
“Because a guy came up to me who was a lot like the Chris Penn character, Willard, and said, ‘Don’t worry about them, man, I got you,’ and he kind of befriended me.”
—Kevin Bacon, Actor
Considering a Sequel Only for a Horror Role, Not Ren from Footloose
In a revealing TODAY Show interview, Bacon shared that if he were to revisit any of his characters for a sequel, it would be the character from the cult horror-comedy Tremors, rather than the iconic Ren from Footloose. Initially dismissive of the film, Bacon later embraced its quirky charm and helped develop a television adaptation through Blumhouse Productions. Although the pilot did not evolve into a full series, Bacon expressed pride in the project.
“I thought about it a few years back, and the only character with was the guy from Tremors.”
“I was really really happy with it, I thought it was super-cool, so that was a disappointment.”
—Kevin Bacon, Actor
Kevin Bacon’s versatility and willingness to embrace both his victories and setbacks continue to endear him to fans and industry peers alike. His ongoing projects, including the Netflix miniseries Sirens and the Paramount+ thriller The Bondsman, show his commitment to exploring diverse roles. The actor’s legacy is more than just a popular game or a single standout film; it is a testament to his adaptability and passion for the arts throughout his career.
