Six Decades of Kevin Bacon: The actor’s 25 best roles

We couldn’t possibly do a list of Kevin Bacon’s best roles without paying homage to his very first: playing the smug Omega pledge Chip Diller in “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” Bacon is probably best remembered for the scene at the sabotaged homecoming parade where, in his ROTC garb, Diller implores the panicked crowd to “Remain calm. All is well. Allll is welllll,” before getting trampled.

As you might have gathered from previous galleries, we love the "Friday the 13th" horror films. The first one doesn’t actually include the adult version of our favorite hockey mask-wearing serial killer, but it does include a 22-year-old Kevin Bacon playing a camp counselor. Bacon had one of the more prominent roles in the slasher flick, but he actually made an early exit thanks to a sharp arrow popping up through his mattress. The lesson? Don’t forget to look under the bed for monsters, kiddies.

“Diner” was the first big-screen film directed by Barry Levinson as well as the first of the director’s four “Baltimore Films,” which also included 1987’s “Tin Men,” 1990’s “Avalon” and 1999’s “Liberty Heights.” Kevin Bacon starred as Timothy Fenwick alongside Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly and Paul Reiser as a group of friends who reunite for a wedding and are shown adjusting to adulthood through a series of vignettes. The actors were praised for their respective performances that included a hefty amount of improvisation, but Levinson also earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for the film.

A rural town that has banned dancing and rock music? The local minister (John Lithgow) might think the rash decision will get the residents into heaven, but it sounds like hell-on-Earth to us. No worries, though, because a kid from Chicago named Ren (Kevin Bacon) just moved to town, and he’s determined to get his high school a prom. He even quotes Bible verses in order to make his argument. The part ended up being Bacon’s breakout role, even though it was previously offered to both Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe. 

Forgot that Kevin Bacon was in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”? That’s probably because his role was a cameo that lasted all of 65 seconds. Toward the beginning of the film, Steve Martin’s character is desperately looking for a cab to the airport during rush hour right before the Thanksgiving holiday. He spots one and makes a run for it, but another hopeful passenger (Bacon) beats him in a footrace and gives a smug salute before hopping in. At a time when Bacon’s career was really taking off, this was a brief but hilarious casting decision by director John Hughes.

Like most Christopher Guest comedies, “The Big Picture” was critically acclaimed (91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) yet criminally underappreciated ($117,463 at the box office). Kevin Bacon starred in the cameo-filled romp as Nick Chapman, a film student who discovers the struggles of the studio process, fame and success during a rapid rise and fall after winning a prestigious contest.

"Tremors" might have only earned $16 million against a budget of $11 million, but the 1990 monster movie “Tremors” was praised by critics for its cast, comedy, and being something of a throwback to the old creature features of the 1950s. Kevin Bacon helmed the cast as Val McKee, a handyman who is forced to combat a series of enormous worm-like “graboids” that invade the ironically named small town of Perfection, Nevada. As a result of the favorable reviews, “Tremors” became a cult hit and fared much better on video, TV and, eventually, the Internet. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for its five direct-to-video sequels.

Kevin Bacon’s role in Oliver Stone’s “JFK” was minor in terms of screen time, but it was still a significant part of the acclaimed-yet-controversial conspiracy thriller. Bacon played Willie O’Keefe, a male prostitute who overhead pilot David Ferrie (Joe Pesci) discussing a potential coup d’état. Although Bacon didn’t receive much attention for his role, he was an important member of the all-star cast that contributed to the movie’s success as a whole, which included eight Academy Award nominations.

Most people remember the 1992 military legal drama “A Few Good Men” for its ongoing showdown between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, but Kevin Bacon also performed admirably as the prosecutor, Captain Jack Ross. Bacon didn’t receive much attention for his somewhat limited role, but — like “JFK” — he fit in well among the all-star cast that also included Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollack and Cuba Gooding Jr.

1994’s “The River Wild” received mixed reviews as a film, but its stars, Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon, were nevertheless praised for their roles as the protagonist and antagonist of the white water rafting adventure movie. The character of Wade (Bacon) called for someone who must act and appear likable enough to be trusted but also devious enough to be an armed robber on the run — making the actor a perfect fit for the part. Although he didn’t win, Bacon earned his first Golden Globe nomination as a result of the role.

After stealing $5 to feed himself and his sister, Henry Young (Kevin Bacon) ends up in the penal system and eventually finds himself serving time at Alcatraz. Following an escape attempt, he is locked up in solitary confinement for three years, driven mad and murders a fellow inmate upon his return to the general population. As the character must transform from likable to psychotic, Bacon was once again perfectly cast in the role. The film had its flaws. Even so, Bacon earned a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a SAG nomination for his portrayal of Young, who was actually based on a real person of the same name.

As you might remember, the crew of Apollo 13 in Ron Howard’s 1995 docudrama was Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Gary Sinise. But when Sinise’s character gets exposed to the measles, backup Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert (Bacon) steps in to take his place. Worldwide, “Apollo 13” raked in more than $355 million, won two of its nine Oscar nominations and holds a 95 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

By 1996, Kevin Bacon had taken on a number of dark and dramatic parts but hadn’t tackled anything quite as heavy as his role as Sean Nokes in “Sleepers.” The film also starred Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Minnie Driver and Dustin Hoffman. Nokes was a physically and sexually abusive guard at a home for male juvenile delinquents, and despite being a likable actor, Bacon made Nokes into a truly detestable human being. When the guard got what was coming to him (and rather quickly, at that) audiences likely applauded, which is not a normal reaction to cold-blooded murder.

Mostly remembered for its envelope-pushing sex scenes, the 1998 erotic thriller “Wild Things” is actually an engrossing piece of cinema. Stars Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards and Kevin Bacon manage to keep audiences guessing until the very end, and even then, the post-credits scenes shake things up even more. 

Being released on the heels of similar but more acclaimed paranormal films like “The Sixth Sense” and “The Blair Witch Project” somewhat sank the reviews of “Stir of Echoes” by comparison, but it still fared well at the box office. Nevertheless, many critics praised Kevin Bacon for his role as Tom Witzky, a man who gets hypnotized and begins seeing visions of a murdered teen girl, with Roger Ebert calling it “one of his best performances.”

Sean Penn and Tim Robbins both nabbed Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor honors at the 2014 Oscars and Golden Globes, but the other member of the “Mystic River” trio, Kevin Bacon, didn’t even receive a nomination (aside from Outstanding Performance by a Cast at the SAG Awards). This is a shame because while Penn and Robbins were perfect as a shady ex-con and an emotionally damaged survivor of childhood abuse, respectively, the levelheaded Sean (Bacon) held the group together as the third childhood friend that became a detective and ended up investigating not one, not two, but three murders related to Jimmy (Penn) and Dave (Robbins). 

It’s no easy task playing a convicted child molester looking to make a fresh start after serving a 12-year prison sentence, but Kevin Bacon shined in his role as Walter in 2004’s “The Woodsman.” Bacon earned rave reviews as the creepy and complex main character of the compelling drama, including a Best Actor nod at the Satellite Awards.

James Wan is known for directing horror franchises like the “Saw,” “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” films, but he also snuck an action drama in there with 2007’s “Death Sentence.” Despite only earning $17 million at the box office and not receiving many favorable reviews, movie fans looking for a bang-bang-shoot-'em-up flick were nevertheless entertained by Kevin Bacon’s violent and ruthless attempt to avenge his family. Think “Taken” but a year earlier.

One could say Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” is basically an extended back-and-forth between Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, but that would be unfair to the supporting cast that included Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt and Kevin Bacon — the latter of whom played Nixon's skeptical post-presidential chief of staff, Jack Brennan. Although it couldn’t capitalize on a single one, “Frost/Nixon” garnered five nominations at the both the Golden Globe and Academy Awards.

After premiering at Sundance, “Taking Chance” made its highly anticipated TV debut on HBO and became the most-watched original film on the network in five years, amassing two million viewers during its initial broadcast and 5.5 million on re-airings. This is likely because the heart-wrenching drama —  about a marine colonel (Bacon) escorting the casket of a fallen soldier back to his hometown — is apolitical, despite it centering on the Iraq War. For his powerful performance, Bacon earned nominations at the Emmy, Satellite, Golden Globe and SAG Awards, winning honors at the latter two events.

Kevin Bacon was inexperienced when it came to superhero movies but still nailed his portrayal of villain Sebastian Shaw in the 2011 spin-off prequel “X-Men: First Class.” Like most comic book bad guys, Shaw is bent on world domination as the leader of the Hellfire Club, but Bacon rightly played him as someone who sees himself as the hero of the story. Despite being surrounded by an all-star cast that included James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence and Oliver Platt, Bacon was repeatedly singled out by critics and fans alike for his performance.

It only ran for three seasons, but the FOX drama “The Following” still received generally favorable reviews, especially for Kevin Bacon and his co-star, James Purefoy. Bacon earned a People’s Choice and two Saturn Award nominations, including a win at the latter event in 2013. In case you missed it, Bacon plays former FBI Agent Ryan Hardy, who is recalled to help catch an escaped serial killer (Purefoy).

Kevin Bacon has become something of a regular on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” not just as a guest and interviewee but also as a musical performer who plays spoof songs while dressed a member of bands like the Beach Boys, ZZ Top, The Kinks, and Peter, Paul and Mary. However, our favorite is still his first appearance after Jimmy took over, when the host proclaimed that dancing was banned on “The Tonight Show” and Bacon (playing himself) began a choreographed “Footloose”-inspired dance sequence in response.

In the 2015 thriller “Cop Car,” Kevin Bacon must once again walk a moral tightrope as Sheriff Kretzer, a police officer with a number of secrets to hide — a guy who is dumb enough to repeatedly get himself into jams but smart enough to figure a way out of them. This action-packed dance continues up until the film’s exciting finale, which is fittingly ambiguous, making the Jon Watts-directed film worthy of multiple watches.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Amazon’s “I Love Dick” was axed after just one season; the alternative comedy was reviewed favorably by critics but was just a bit too offbeat to be embraced by audiences. Bacon starred in the titular role alongside Kathryn Hahn, who played an artist/filmmaker that moves to Marfa, Texas, with her husband Sylvère (Griffin Dunne) and becomes infatuated with his research fellowship sponsor (Bacon).