Kevin Bacon thinks the 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' game is "beautiful".

The 65-year-old actor is the inspiration behind the well-known game - which leans on the idea that everyone in Hollywood can be linked to the veteran movie star in just six steps - and Kevin now feels proud about his part in its popularity.

He told PEOPLE: "I've said this before, and I really truly believe this: The thing about 'Six Degrees' is you got to take me out of it.

"If you take me out of it, the concept is actually beautiful, because it shows that we are all connected - and not only are we connected, but we hunger for connections.

"I think we would be better to each other and feel less of a sense of division if we just remembered that we all climbed out of the same swamp, essentially. So in that way, I think 'Six Degrees' is actually a really positive thing. We just have to make it about people, and not just about Kevin Bacon."

Meanwhile, Kevin previously claimed that it took him years to earn respect as an actor.

The movie star believes his role in Oliver Stone's 'JFK' was a turning point in his career.

He told NME: "I was kind of spinning my wheels career-wise at that point, having been to the top of the mountain in Hollywood with ‘Footloose’. But I was kind of sliding back down the other side. And that gave me an opportunity to redefine my career in a way that was really much more true to who I am.

"People said, ‘Wow, I never thought I’d see you do that!’ Of course, for me and for the people that actually knew me it was not a surprise, because I’d been doing a lot of theatre. And I’ve been doing, you know, crazy offbeat characters for a really long time. But to the general Hollywood industry, that was a new thing."