Kevin Bacon 

In 1967 psychologist Stanley Milgram did an experiment that seems to prove that everyone in the United States is connected to everyone else by a chain of about six others (the results actually ranged from 2 to 10 with a median a bit over 5.)  You may have seen the 1993 movie "Six Degrees of Separation" starring Stockard Channing and Will Smith, written by John Guare based on his 1990 play of the same name.

Somehow this led to something called the Kevin Bacon Game, or so my research indicates.  Apparently played at the kind of parties I don't attend, the aim is to link the actor to any other via the fewest number of intermediaries who have appeared together in feature films. 

Of course this sort of thing is best left to a computer communing with the Internet Movie Data Base, as the Oracle of Bacon has done at http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/ 

Just for the fun of it I fed in the actors who played in the various Spenser adaptations and present the results below.

The Oracle says: Robert Urich has a Bacon number of 2.
<S:FH Spenser>
Robert Urich was in Endangered Species (1982) with Paul Dooley
Paul Dooley was in Telling Lies in America (1997) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Avery Brooks has a Bacon number of 2.
<S:FH Hawk>
Avery Brooks was in 15 Minutes (2001) with Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron was in 24 Hours (2002/I) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Barbara Stock has a Bacon number of 2.
<S:FH Susan>
Barbara Stock was in The Verne Miller Story (1987) with Xander Berkeley
Xander Berkeley was in Apollo 13 (1995) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Richard Jaeckel has a Bacon number of 2.
<S:FH Martin Quirk>
Richard Jaeckel was in The Dark (1979) with William Devane
William Devane was in Hollow Man (2000) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Ron McLarty has a Bacon number of 1.
<S:FH Frank Belson>
Ron McLarty was in Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983) with Kevin Bacon


The Oracle says: Carolyn Mccormick has a Bacon number of 2.
<S:FH Rita Fiore>
Carolyn McCormick was in A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) with Steve Martin
Steve Martin was in Novocaine (2001) with Kevin Bacon


The Oracle says: Wendy Crewson has a Bacon number of 2.
<Susan in two Lifetime Network movies>
Wendy Crewson was in Bicentennial Man (1999) with Lynne Thigpen
Lynne Thigpen was in Novocaine (2001) with Kevin Bacon


The Oracle says: Barbara Williams has a Bacon number of 2.
<Susan in three Lifetime Network movies>
Barbara Williams was in Digger (1993) with Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis was in Picture Perfect (1997) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Joe Mantegna has a Bacon number of 1.
<A&E movies Spenser>
Joe Mantegna was in Queens Logic (1991) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Marcia Gay Harden has a Bacon number of 2.
<A&E movies Susan>
Marcia Gay Harden was in Space Cowboys (2000) with William Devane
William Devane was in Hollow Man (2000) with Kevin Bacon

Update: Since the original entry they joined together in Mystic River (2003)
and her Bacon number goes down to 1. 

The Oracle says: Shiek Mahmud-bey has a Bacon number of 2.
<A&E movie Small Vices Hawk>
Shiek Mahmud-Bey was in A Further Gesture (1996) with Pruitt Taylor Vince
Pruitt Taylor Vince was in 24 Hours (2002/I) with Kevin Bacon

The Oracle says: Ernie Hudson has a Bacon number of 2.
<A&E movie Walking Shadow Hawk>
Ernie Hudson was in The Watcher (2000) with Rich Komenich
Rich Komenich was in Novocaine (2001) with Kevin Bacon

And just to round things out, if the rules were changed slightly my Bacon number would be quite low.  Thom Brannan, who recorded the official Bullets and Beer theme song and has allowed me to store an enormous number of files on his site notes that he was stationed on the  USS Tunny (SSN 682) with a second-cousin of Mr. Bacon.  And my link to RBP himself would be even closer.  

This Page Created by Bob Ames