Bacon: Hoffman was my idol

Kevin Bacon was driven to become an actor because of Dustin Hoffman.

The 57-year-old has starred in major films including Footloose, Mystic River and Apollo 13. But none of it would have happened for Kevin if he hadn’t watched Midnight Cowboy, as the 1969 film featuring Dustin and Jon Voight left a huge impression on the star.

“A really influential movie on me; it was a big part of why I wanted to become an actor. I remember thinking 'Wow, how did they get this homeless guy to show up to make the movie? And isn't that cool that this cowboy was also in it?’,” he laughed to Rolling Stone. “And then a little later, I see The Graduate and I see Coming Home and I go, 'So this is what an actor does.' So Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight were like really, really super influential on me in terms of what I want to do with my life. It was like, 'Okay, I get it now. This is the kind of actor I want to be.'"

Another major influence on Kevin, like many other thespians, was Marlon Brando. The star also remembers being blown away by James Dean after watching him act in Rebel Without a Cause with a friend on an early video player.

“When those guys came along and did that that sort of humbling approach to American acting...even seeing them long after the fact, it felt new to me,” he explained. “East of Eden, the same thing. I really started to get into those types of actors and those kinds of performances after I saw those two films."