Celebrity Birthdays December 17th

Preeminent journalist and political commentator Chris Matthews is the host of MSNBCs Hardball with Chris Matthews and the NBC syndicated news broadcast The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews began his career as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter, and went on to work as the San Francisco Examiner's Washington Bureau Chief from 1987 to 2000, and as a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 2000 to 2002. He turns 65 today.

Accomplished film and stage actor Bill Pullman made his onscreen debut as Earl Mott in Ruthless People (1986). He went on to achieve critical acclaim and win numerous awards, landing roles in films like Spaceballs (1987), Independence Day (1996), Casper (1995) and Lost Highway (1997).

Although he hails from Texas, John Hillerman rose to fame playing stiff-upper-lipped British supporting characters on 1970s TV showsmost notably, the former British Army Sergeant Major Jonathan Quayle Higgins III on the popular detective series Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988). He received an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his work on the series. 78 today, Hillerman is retired and lives in his home state of Texas.

(He is pictured here on the far right beside his Magnum, P.I. castmates.)

For years, the career of Italian-American actor Michael Badalucco was stuck in neutral; he played bit role after bit role, looking for his big break. When he played a policeman in One Fine Day (1996), he caught the attention of Michelle Pfieffer, who recommended him to her husband, writer-producer David E. Kelley. Kelley specially crafted a character to showcase the actor's talents in the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997-2004). Badalucco is 56 today, and just finished his run as a recurring character on the first season of Boardwalk Empire.

The lovely Jenny Agutter first trained as a ballet dancer, but she became famous for her acting, making her film debut at the age of 12 in East of Sudan (1964). She moved on to adult roles, appearing in films like Walkabout (1971), Logan's Run (1976), Sweet William (1979), and An American Werewolf in London (1981). More recently, she has focused mainly on charity work. As a sufferer of cystic fibrosis, she is a major patron of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. She turns 58 today.