HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 24: Kevin Bacon attends the World Premiere of A24's "MAXXXINE" at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 24, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)© Kevin Winter

Kevin Bacon's famous dad who encouraged his fame revealed

The Footloose star sought to be more famous than his father

US Writer
July 5, 2024

Kevin Bacon is not only an internationally known film star, but he has worked with many of your favorite stars - or actors who have worked with them, per the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

But it turns out that he came from a degree of fame within his own right, with his own father appearing on the cover of TIME magazine. Edmund Bacon was a significant urban planner and architect in Philadelphia, often described as "The Father of Modern Philadelphia".

© Getty Images

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 14: Kevin Bacon attends "Footloose" with Kevin Bacon during the 2024 Tribeca Festival at BMCC Theater on June 14, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)

Through this exposure to fame, Kevin revealed that he himself developed an interest in the spotlight, as he confirmed in an interview with Vanity Fair.

"A hundred percent", he said in response to the question of whether he wanted fame growing up. "In terms of giving credit to my parents, and of course I give all the credit to them, my mother was very much on the artistic side and really encouraged acting." 

© Denver Post

Kevin Bacon's father was Edmund Bacon, the executive director of the Philadelphia city planning commission (right)

He continued: "My father was famous in Philadelphia, which in some ways is a small pond, but for me it was a big pond. I saw him get recognized by people when he would walk down the street and seeing that was definitely a big driving force in my life."

This led to Kevin wanting to be more famous than him, stating it was definitely a motivator in his success. 

© Bennett Raglin

Kevin Bacon and his brother Michael Bacon, a singer within his own right

The Footloose star was one of six children, and his parents "both encouraged as much creativity as possible in everything—dance, music, theater, painting, sculpture, whatever."

As such, he isn't the only star in his family - his brother Michael, 74, is a singer songwriter and film score composer.

© Jean Baptiste Lacroix

Kevin is close with his daughter Sosie

But Kevin has questioned whether fame really is all that, and discovered that the grass isn't always greener on the other side as he disguised himself in an attempt to live as a normal person for an experiment.

"I went to a special effects makeup artist, had consultations, and asked him to make me a prosthetic disguise", he said, which meant that "nobody recognized me."

When he was walking about unrecognizable, he found that "People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice."

He added: "Nobody said, 'I love you.' I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, buy a [expletive] coffee or whatever. I was like, This sucks. I want to go back to being famous."

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