The “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a fun concept that refers to how everyone in Hollywood is connected to prolific actor Kevin Bacon through their acting relationships. At the center of this idea is the Kevin Bacon number, which measures an actor’s “Bacon-ness” based on how closely they are linked to Kevin Bacon himself. But who has the highest Kevin Bacon number? Let’s take a deep dive into how this system works and who tops the Bacon charts.
A Quick Intro to Kevin Bacon Numbers
First things first – who is Kevin Bacon? He is an American actor who has been working steadily in Hollywood since the late 1970s. With over 100 acting credits, Bacon has worked with just about everyone in the business either directly or through a common co-star.
The game based around his prolific career, six degrees of Kevin Bacon, started as a playful observation that Bacon was a common link between huge numbers of actors. This eventually spawned the numerical Kevin Bacon numbers as a way to measure Bacon connectivity.
Here’s a quick overview of how Kevin Bacon numbers work:
- Kevin Bacon himself has a Kevin Bacon number of 0. This is the closest possible number.
- Actors who have worked directly with Kevin Bacon in a movie or TV show have a Kevin Bacon number of 1.
- Actors who have worked with someone who has a Kevin Bacon number of 1 would then have a Kevin Bacon number of 2, and so on.
- The higher the Kevin Bacon number, the further away the actor’s relationship is to Kevin Bacon through their acting connections.
So in essence, your Kevin Bacon number represents the degrees of separation between you and Kevin Bacon himself based on acting roles.
Who Has the Highest Known Kevin Bacon Number?
The highest Kevin Bacon number on record belongs to William Rufus Shafter, with a Bacon number of 10.
William Rufus Shafter was not actually an actor but was a military officer who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was featured in a silent film in 1898 called Surrender of General Toral where he portrayed himself.
Through this obscure acting credit, Shafter’s Bacon number has been calculated through the following connections:
- 1st degree: William Rufus Shafter appeared in Surrender of General Toral (1898) with Joseph Wheeler.
- 2nd degree: Joseph Wheeler appeared in General Wheeler and Secretary of War Alger at Camp Wikoff (1898) with Russell Alexander Alger.
- 3rd degree: Russell Alexander Alger appeared in President McKinley’s Inspection of Camp Wikoff (1898) with William McKinley.
- 4th degree: William McKinley appeared in President McKinley and Escort Going to the Capitol (1901) with Nelson Miles.
- 5th degree: Nelson Miles appeared in The Indian Wars (1914) with William F. Cody.
- 6th degree: William F. Cody appeared in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Pawnee Bill’s Far East (1910) with Major Gordon W. “Pawnee Bill” Lillie.
- 7th degree: Major Gordon W. “Pawnee Bill” Lillie appeared in In the Days of the Thundering Herd (1914) with Wheeler Oakman.
- 8th degree: Wheeler Oakman appeared in Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938) with Jerry Gardner.
- 9th degree: Jerry Gardner appeared in Natural Born Killers (1994) with Pruitt Taylor Vince.
- 10th degree: Pruitt Taylor Vince appeared in 21 Hours (2002) with Kevin Bacon.
And there you have it – the 10 degrees of separation between William Rufus Shafter and Kevin Bacon himself! Shafter represents the highest proven Kevin Bacon number on record.
Other Notable High Kevin Bacon Numbers
While Shafter tops the charts at 10, there are a few other contenders for lofty Bacon numbers:
- Del Moore – American comedian Del Moore has a Kevin Bacon number of 9, the second highest known.
- Kate Williamson – Character actress Kate Williamson also has a Kevin Bacon number of 9.
- Mary Wickes – Actress Mary Wickes, known for roles in Sister Act and White Christmas, has a Kevin Bacon number of 8.
- Doodles Weaver – Comedian Doodles Weaver likewise shares a Kevin Bacon number of 8.
Though most prolific Hollywood actors have much lower Kevin Bacon numbers between 1 and 3, these outliers show just how far the Bacon-connectivity can be stretched to link actors through decades of films and co-stars.
The Oracle of Bacon – Tracking Kevin Bacon Numbers
The authority on all things related to Kevin Bacon numbers is The Oracle of Bacon website at oracleofbacon.org. The Oracle of Bacon has meticulously researched connections between actors to calculate Bacon numbers.
Some key facts about The Oracle of Bacon:
- It was created in 1997 by computer science students at the University of Virginia.
- The Oracle of Bacon database covers around 1.6 million actors and 600,000 movies.
- The site features a “Bacon Number Calculator” tool where you can instantly look up the Bacon number for any actor.
- The Oracle of Bacon established a “Hall of Fame” (now discontinued) to track people who found new high Bacon numbers.
Through years of data gathering, The Oracle of Bacon serves as the definitive reference for Kevin Bacon numbers. The site operators also developed the graph algorithms required to map connections between actors and compute their degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon.
Why Track Kevin Bacon Numbers?
At first glance, Kevin Bacon numbers may seem like a silly concept and purely pop culture trivia. But there are some meaningful applications of this six degrees idea:
- It reveals just how tightly interconnected the acting world is through co-starring in films, even spanning many decades.
- The graph theory behind mapping relationships and finding shortest paths has broader applications in mathematics and computer science.
- It is an early prototype of social networking concepts where connections between people can be measured and visualized.
- More philosophically, it supports the “small-world phenomenon” theory that all people on earth are connected by short chains of relationships.
So while hunting for high Kevin Bacon numbers may seem like a quirky hobby, it provides insight into the interconnectedness of Hollywood and human networks in general. Computing Bacon numbers requires sophisticated algorithms capable of mapping complex relationship graphs – a valuable field of research.
The next time you enjoy a Kevin Bacon movie, consider just how far his acting connections span and the impressive computing power required to trace the shortest pathways to any actor in Hollywood!