David Bacon

David Bacon (born Gaspar Griswold Bacon Jr., March 24, 1914 – September 12, 1943) was an American stage and film actor.

Early life and education Bacon was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and his family was one of the prominent, politically active Boston Brahmin families. His father, Gaspar G. Bacon, was on the board of Harvard University, and later, in the 1930s, served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

Born to a life of privilege and wealth, David Bacon attended Deerfield Academy and graduated from Harvard in 1937.

He summered with his family at Woods Hole on Cape Cod, where he became involved during the early 1930s with the "University Players", at West Falmouth. There he met the then-unknown performers James Stewart and Henry Fonda, with whom he later shared accommodations while he struggled to establish himself. In her later years, Keller disclosed that both she and Bacon were bisexuals and that their lavender marriage partly served as what she referred to as a "beard", allowing both of them to maintain the requisite façade in Hollywood, where they were both attempting to establish film careers.

In 1942, Howard Hughes met Bacon, and signed him to an exclusive contract, with the intention of casting him in The Outlaw (1943) as Billy the Kid.

Death and burial On September 12, 1943, Bacon was seen driving a car erratically in Santa Monica, California, before running off the road and into the curb. Several witnesses saw him climb out of the car and stagger briefly before collapsing. As they approached, he asked them to help him, but he died before he could say anything more. A small puncture wound was found in his back; the weapon had punctured his lung and caused his death. A weapon was never found, though the wound was suggested to be from a stiletto.

Keller, who was then five months pregnant, collapsed when she heard of her husband's death.

David Bacon was cremated at Cunningham & O'Connor Mortuary in Santa Monica. His remains were shipped to Massachusetts, where they were interred at Woods Hole Village Cemetery (also known as Church of the Messiah Memorial Garden) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.