I know a guy who knows this man who knows a gal who...

1) Last week, I watched the movie Taking Chance. 

2) It stars Kevin Bacon.

3) Lately, everyone all of the sudden is a big fan of bacon.

4) Comedian Jim Gaffigan even has an entire routine based on bacon, “Even the frying of   bacon sounds like applause; Yay, bacon!...You can’t tell me the success of Kevin       Bacon isn’t somehow tied to his name!...”

5) Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. **

6) Six degrees of separation.  ***

Whew! I made it to my topic for the week!  

Everyone knows someone who’s “somebody”  – either directly or within six relationships. 

I know you do, too!  Please bear in mind these are only “movie celebrity six degrees” (most of these are just in 1º or 2º) - Each one of these names can be found on the IMDB.

Here are just a few that come to mind:

·My dad worked with Toni Tennille’s dad

·One of my brothers-in-law was in the high school class behind Kevin Costner at 

     Villa Park High School

· My sister was on “Entertainment Tonight” with Dorothy Hamill

· My brother-in-law met Jane Seymour

·A woman at our church was a teacher to young actors (including Wil Wheaton)

·Our real estate agent in Washington State is married to Dinah Manoff  & son-in-law to

          Lee Grant

· Kim Krizan, writer of Before Sunset and Before Sunrise, was a high school classmate

          of mine

·Terri Douglas is my godmother’s niece, and we also went to high school together.

· John Pardee was a high school classmate, as well as executive producer & writer on several

          television series

·A church friend dated Robin Williams

·This same friend and her husband were also car drivers in the “American Graffiti” street

       cruising scene, as well as security for George Lucas

·I attended church with Tom Hanks’ Aunt Hilda, and I had the pleasure of publicly

         reading some of her poetry.

·A former company I was employed with was a business associate of 

          Anthony Edwards’ brother.

· My aunt’s father played the shofar in The Ten Commandments (as well as other noted

       celebrity elbow-rubs)

·A former student is a shirt tale cousin with Johnny Depp.

·My daughter-in-law’s grandmother babysat many Hollywood children, as well as being

     friends with Lawrence Welk

· I recently worked with Net Lott, director of Howl’s Moving Castle

· I sat with Patricia Barry on a PSA flight (see my blog of February 17, 2012)

· A high school friend’s father-in-law was Sonny Fox, the host of “Wonderama”

            (New York version)

· She is also a close friend with Michael Arndt, the Oscar-winning writer of Toy Story 3

· Two of my cousin’s daughters sang at the 2012 Academy Awards Ceremony.

· These same two girls sang at Disneyland with Fess Parker

· My massage therapist was a stage manager for Hollywood award shows & rubbed

           elbows with the likes of Frank Sinatra

· My church’s music director went to college with Gary Trousdale

· A friend of my parents was a Disneyland hostess/tour guide, and often requested 

         by Mr. Disney himself

· Another church friend’s aunt married Michael Cole

· A gentleman in our church was the pilot for Air Force One when post-Hollywood 

         actor Ronald Reagan was president

Well, I will stop there – I’m sure there are more, and as I have mentioned in past blogs, something always comes to mind once the initial thoughts are out there to view.  And again, as you read these, I am sure you have your own list of  “Six Degrees.”  Is it in your head? Perhaps take a few minutes and write it down.  You might be surprised at how close we all are to celebrity! Perhaps it is even yourself…

*** “Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by a play written by John Guare.” (Wikipedia)  

** Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a trivia game based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any individual involved in the Hollywood, California film industry can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. The name of the game is a play on the "six degrees of separation" concept. The game requires a group of players to try to connect any individual to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible.