James Bacon

James Bacon was an American journalist and author who also acted in movies and television. Born in Buffalo, New York, he earned a journalism degree from Syracuse University in 1943 and served in the Navy. He worked for the Associated Press until 1966, then had a short spell at The Hollywood Reporter before spending 17 years at The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Although a columnist by trade, Bacon took many small film roles, often as reporters or newsmen. He was the only actor to appear in all five Planet of the Apes movies, playing an ape in most but a human, General Faulkner, in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, the only one that credited him. His books included Hollywood is a Four Letter Town (1977), Made in Hollywood (1978), and a 1985 biography of Jackie Gleason, How Sweet It Is: The Jackie Gleason Story. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.