After a pro apprenticeship on daytime dramas such as "The Guiding Light" and "Search for Tomorrow," the versatile, boyish actor landed small roles in big movies, as a creepy cadet in "Animal House" (1978) and an unlucky dude in "Friday the 13th" (1980).

He has been busy ever since. His latest release is perhaps his most challenging: He stars as a paroled pedophile struggling to stay straight in "The Woodsman." Among the tastiest Bacon bits available on video:

Diner (1982): This clever coming-of-age comedy follows Baltimore buddies through late-night sessions at a roadside cafe. The upstart players moved on to bigger things: Bacon's bunch also included Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Timothy Daly, Paul Reiser and Michael Tucker.

Footloose (1984): In the role that made him famous, Bacon stars as a big- city teen who moves to a repressive small town where the local minister (John Lithgow) has outlawed dancing. With its hit-single soundtrack and energetic young cast, this musical drama has held up admirably.

The Big Picture (1989): In this pointed, cameo-filled satire from director Christopher Guest, Bacon's bitterly believable as an ambitious young filmmaker who wins a college prize and finds himself stuck in a quagmire of fast-talking Hollywood phonies. Jennifer Jason Leigh is wonderful as his kooky artist friend.

Tremors (1990): Bacon and Fred Ward co-star as goofy guys who stumble upon an invasion of giant underground earthworm-type monsters. The result is an occasionally hilarious, always entertaining tongue-in-cheek horror movie.

A Few Good Men (1992): Bacon plays a decent-minded prosecutor - Tom Cruise is his courtroom adversary - in this disturbing military mystery from director Rob Reiner. Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Kiefer Sutherland add to the dramatic firepower.

Murder in the First (1995): Bacon gives a heart-rending performance as an unfairly convicted Alcatraz inmate - an incoherent misfit whose incarceration leads him deeper and deeper into solitary confinement and worse. A demanding drama about the pursuit of justice against impossible odds.

Sleepers (1996): The first half of this long, harsh winner is about four teens sent to juvenile jail and abused mercilessly by a sadistic guard (Bacon). The second half has the courtroom action: Two of the boys, now grown into professional criminals, are on trial for murdering their former torturer. Robert De Niro plays a priest who is put on the stand by the defendants' down-and-out lawyer (Dustin Hoffman).

Apollo 13 (1995): Director Ron Howard drew all aces from a cast - led by Tom Hanks as commander-author Jim Lovell … that re-enacts the beleaguered 1970 lunar orbit excursion. The digital effects are so realistic, the script so taut, that you might forget that the ending is a matter of record. Bacon plays astronaut Jack Swigert.

Telling Lies in America (1997): A teenage Hungarian immigrant discovers American pop culture … and his own self-worth … in this brisk, fictional memoir from writer-producer Joe Eszterhas and director Guy Ferland. Bacon delivers a dead-on impersonation of a fast-talking radio gypsy.

Wild Things (1998): Women in bikinis play sexy, treacherous games with dimwitted men - and each other - in this cheeky, sleazy suspense thriller. Bill Murray is funny as a seedy defense lawyer and Bacon is a local cop on a tangled sex-crime case.

Mystic River (2003): This dark drama from director Clint Eastwood stars Tim Robbins, Sean Penn and Bacon as former childhood friends whose lives are entangled anew by a terrible crime. Bacon, as the best adjusted of the three, plays a state police detective.