Since bursting onto the scene in National Lampoon’s Animal House , Kevin Bacon has been a star.
Over a career that has spanned five decades, Kevin has cemented himself as an icon. If you know him, you love him.
Below are 10+ interesting things that even the biggest “Baconators” ( Kevin Bacon fans, probably) didn’t know. So sit back, relax, and cut loose… Footloose !
Kevin Bacon is a legend.
He has starred in movies, shows, and even music videos.
But just because he is super famous, that doesn’t mean fans know everything about him! Let’s get into some random things about the star that fans didn’t know!
1. Oddly enough, he’s never once been nominated for an Oscar Award.
This is absolutely wild, considering Kevin has appeared in five different films that all went on to either win or receive Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards.
2. He worries about his portrayals, but does everything as honestly as he can!
“Do I have fears about the things coming out of my mouth? I do — and the things that I do — but if you look at my work, I’ve never really been afraid to do anything,” he said.
3. Kevin had a disguise made specifically so that he could wander in crowds unnoticed.
Kevin’s disguise was made by professional makeup artists and special effects people.
When Graham Norton asked him how he felt being just another anonymous face in the crowd, Kevin replied “I hated it.”
4. His father was featured on the cover of *Time Magazine*!
Kevin’s father, Edmund Bacon, was an incredibly well-known city planner in Philadelphia. He made the cover of the November 6th issue in 1964.
Edmund is without exaggeration the man who literally built the city of Philadelphia .
5. Kevin first met his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, when she was only 12 years old.
Kevin was acting in a play and Kyra was in the audience. She even mustered up the courage to talk to him afterward and commend him on his performance.
Years later, they reunited and began dating while filming Lemon Sky .
6. When speaking about their relationship in an interview, he said:
“She demands a level of openness from me. It’s all thoughts and feelings with her, that’s her approach with us, whether it’s with my son, daughter or me. Communication is something she brought to us as a family, 100%.”
7. Kevin is an incredibly talented musician.
When he’s not lighting up both the big and small screen, Kevin plays guitar and sings in his band The Bacon Brothers alongside his brother, Michael.
Here, you can see him perform a duet with his wife, Kyra.
8. You more than likely haven’t seen his directorial debut.
Kevin directed a short film for Funny Or Die called A Duck Walks In on a Couple Having Sex . No, the title isn’t a metaphor.
As if that wasn’t hilarious enough on its own, Kevin was even able to trick his wife into playing the duck!
9. He never forgets a face…most of the time.
Kevin says “It’s nice to see you again” as opposed to “It’s nice to meet you” because he’s so bad at remembering who he has and hasn’t met.
However, when James Corden put him to the test with a new game called “Know Your Co-Star,” Kevin passed with flying colors.
10. He thought acting would be a good way to get him girls.
Bacon said , “I was super into being famous and wealthy. And, frankly, I know you hear it all the time, and I know it probably gets a little old, but I really thought that it would be a way to get girls.”
11. He and wife Kyra Sedgwick are actually distant relatives!
Kevin and Kyra appeared on the genealogy show Finding Your Roots . Unfortunately for the couple, their greatest fears were confirmed after learning that they’re technically ninth cousins .
It’s only the second most upsetting thing in this video, next to Kevin’s hair.
12. He had bad dreams when he was filming *The Following*
“Part of that was the fact that I was so inundated with violence every day I went to work. I was killing somebody, somebody was killing me, I was using guns, knives, fighting, and that kind of caught up to me. It was a dark [expletive] place to go to.”
13. He and Kyra Sedgwick appeared in a will.i.am music video.
The track was done to honor Barak Obama.
Kevin, Kyra, as well as various other big-name celebrities, made cameo appearances as a way of celebrating the former president’s inauguration.
14. Kevin’s film debut was in the college cult classic *Animal House*.
Kevin played the character Chip Deller in the film.
Animal House not only helped launch Kevin’s career but several other Hollywood elites such as John Belushi and Karen Allen.
15. He went to therapy for his fear of public speaking.
“Because I’m not a public speaker. I don’t even like making toasts. It hits me in a way I can’t really explain. I’ve literally sat with a therapist to try to figure out what that is, because I’m such a public persona.”
16. When asked about how he stays relevant in Hollywood he responded:
“I say the secret to longevity is longevity. Hang in there long enough and keep working. When I was a kid I thought I knew everything there was to know about the business and the more I work, the more I know how much more there is to know and how much more I have to learn.”
“I’ve seen a lot of people fall off the rails, or end up dead or in rehab. Dealing with success and fame and all those things can be challenging.”
“As important as this career is to me, I feel like, for me at least, I had to find something that was more important even than that. For me, that was family, love and nature – something to focus on when things aren’t as good as they can be [because] for the most part they’re not as good as they can be.”
“In general, I am super happy with where I’m at but you forget that it’s not every week that you’re on a hit.”
“I’ve done tonnes of things that have not been successful – movie after movie after movie that just went right in the toilet. You have to get yourself ready for those dips.”
17. He was a victim in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme.
Kevin has never openly admitted what the actual dollar amount was, other than to say that it was in the millions.
Sadly, most of Kevin’s life savings were completely lost.
18. Kevin has a special place in his heart for the city of Boston.
Not only has Kevin played a ton of Bostonian characters over the years, but Boston is also the city where he fell in love with his wife, Kyra Sedgwick!
Kevin also says that he is very impressed with how well people from Boston know their own history.
19. Yes, he still knows how to cut loose.
To celebrate the anniversary of his most iconic film, Footloose , Kevin made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon .
He recreated the “angry warehouse” and “school dance” sequences with absolute perfection!
20. He doesn’t mind when people notice him.
“Often what you hear from celebrities is that it’s such a pain in the [expletive]– Oh, I can’t go anywhere, and people hassle me and all that kind of stuff. And yeah, there is a certain amount of that, it’s true, but 99% of it is really good,” he said .
In fact, he continued by saying that he absolutely doesn’t mind being the center of attention!
“I wanted to be the center of attention, definitely. Some actors will claim that’s not part of their DNA, and it’s bullsh*t. You either want to be the center of attention, or you just are a liar! Because that’s what we do. I mean, we perform.”
21. Kevin went undercover for his role in *Footloose*.
Kevin asked production to check him into the local high school . They actually created the character’s life as if he really did exist!
Kevin said that the only people who actually knew the truth were the principal and the guidance counselor.
22. Kevin inspired a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
The object or the premise of this game is that any actor in Hollywood, living or dead, can be connected to the actor Kevin Bacon in six steps or less.
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If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is.
23. He likes to believe there is a difference between him and other actors, since he doesn’t care about being a celebrity.
“I want to lose myself in it. I want the time between action and cut not to feel like I’m me. I want to feel like I’m in someone else’s shoes,” he said.
“That’s the difference between an actor and a celebrity. A celebrity tries to put across an image — you gotta hold onto the image of this star, or this movie, or this brand, or all those kind of things.”
“I’ve tried that in the past, or had my flirtations with it, and it doesn’t work. It’s just not who I am. I just have to be true to the character.”
24. On why he gravitates toward psychological thrillers for his acting roles, he said:
“I like psychological thrillers because they are projects that have real high stakes. Life or death. And they are very challenging from an acting standpoint.”
25. He explained to *GQ* that he doesn’t see himself as a leading man.
“A leading man is a man who, it doesn’t matter. You give him the three Gs, which is the gun, the girl, and the good lighting—that man is going to be eminently watchable. You’re going to want to see everything that that person does. That’s not me.”
Do you know any fun and interesting facts about Kevin Bacon?
Or were you pleasantly surprised by all the facts that we wrote in the article?
Either way, let us know down below in the comments! We would love to hear from you!
