Famous December Birthdays a to z

Henry Frick was an industrialist who headed the Carnegie Steel Company and the United States Steel Corporation. His mansion later became the Frick Museum.

Playwright Christopher Fry wrote a series of major plays in free verse, with undertones of religion and mysticism, including A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946).

Canadian singer Nelly Furtado topped the charts with songs like "I'm Like a Bird" (2000), "Promiscuous" (2006) and "Say it Right" (2007).

Thomas Gallaudet was an education pioneer and established the American School for the Deaf in 1817.

Actress Ava Gardner was a sultry beauty famous for playing femme fatale roles, and for her marriages to Frank Sinatra, Artie Shaw and Mickey Rooney.

Henry Highland Garnet was an African-American best known as an abolitionist whose “Call to Rebellion” speech encouraged slaves to rebel against their owners.

American actress Teri Garr is best known for her role as Dustin Hoffman's neurotic girlfriend in the comedy hit Tootsie (1981). Other notable roles include The Conversation (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974) and Mr. Mom (1983). 

William Lloyd Garrison was an American journalistic crusader who helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the United States.

George VI served as king of the United Kingdom during World War II and was an important symbolic leader. He was succeeded by Queen Elizabeth II, in 1952.

Lyricist Ira Gershwin wrote for popular musicals like Porgy and Bess in the 1920s and '30s. He was in the first writing team to win a Pulitzer for songwriting.

Billionaire businessman J. Paul Getty became president of the Getty Oil Company after his father George Getty’s death. His Getty Foundation funds the J. Paul Getty Museum and other artist endeavors.

As a member of the Bee Gees, Maurice Gibb scored numerous hits during the 1970s.

Singing with two of his brothers as the Bee Gees, Robin Gibb scored numerous hits in the 1970s, including "Stayin' Alive" and "How Deep Is Your Love."

Billy Gibbons is the bearded lead guitarist for blues/rock band ZZ Top.

Kirsten Gillibrand is a U.S. lawyer and politician from New York who's served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director and critic who was a leader of the French New Wave in film during the 1950s-60s.

American inventor Charles Goodyear discovered the process of vulcanizing rubber. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was posthumously named after him.

Betty Grable was a musical film star and popular pin up model, after starting as a chorus-line dancer in the 1930's.

The heavy set British actor Sydney Greenstreet made a name for himself as a character actor, taking on villainous, scheming roles, such as Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon.

Journalist and lawyer Savannah Guthrie replaced Ann Curry as co-anchor of NBC's Today show in 2012.

Jake Gyllenhaal is an Oscar-nominated actor known for his work in films like Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead and Zodiac.

Corey Haim was a Canadian actor who was a teen hearthrob in the 1980s (often paired with Corey Feldman). He battled addiction and died of an overdose in 2010.

Daryl Hannah is an actress with a wide variety of roles under her belt, from that of a mermaid in Splash to an assassin in Kill Bill: Vols 1 and 2

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Jim Harbaugh is a former American football player who became a highly successful coach for Stanford University and the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

William S. Harley was an American entrepreneur and one of the founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Teri Hatcher is an American Actress best known for her role on the hit television series Desperate Housewives.

Tom Hayden is a political activist and writer who served in the California State Assembly and State Senate. He is also the former husband of actress Jane Fonda.

Henry IV was King of France 1589–1610. The first monarch of France’s Bourbon Dynasty, he issued The Edict of Nantes, granting religious freedom to Protestants.

American biologist A.D. Hershey won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1969 for his research done on viruses that infect bacteria.

Don Hewitt was a television producer who created the long-running news show 60 Minutes.

Musician Frederick "Toots" Hibbert helped define reggae with his band Toots and the Maytals. Their 2004 album, True Love, won a Grammy in 2005.

Mary Higgins Clark is a bestselling author of mystery and suspense books, best known for the novel Where Are the Children?

Director George Roy Hill produced some of the most popular films of the 1960s and 1970s, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Writer and actor Jonah Hill starred in the teen hit Superbad. In 2011, he received an Oscar nomination for his performance in Moneyball.

Conrad Hilton founded the Hilton Hotel empire and grew it into one of the largest private companies in the U.S., consisting of over 3600 hotels worldwide.

Dexter Holland is the lead singer of the punk band The Offspring.

James Holmes was charged in a Colorado shooting that killed 12 and injured 58 on July 20, 2012.

Actress Katie Holmes played Joey Potter on The WB teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. She has a daughter with actor Tom Cruise.

Anthony Hopkins is an Oscar-winning actor known for roles in many films, including The Lion in Winter, Silence of the Lambs and The Remains of the Day.

American professional basketball player Dwight Howard began playing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012. Prior to that, he was a star with the Orlando Magic.

C. Thomas Howell is best known for his acting roles in hit 1980s films E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (directed by Steven Spielberg), The Outsiders (1983) and The Hitcher (1986).

Victoriano Huerta was dictatorial president of Mexico, whose regime united disparate revolutionary forces in common opposition to him.

Howard Hughes produced and directed movies in the '30s. He had a playboy lifestyle and love of aviation. After a plane accident in 1946, he became reclusive.

Donald Hume is best known for beating a murder charge in England and then being caught for another murder in Switzerland.

Samuel L. Jackson is known as one of the hardest-working Hollywood actors. In 2011, he was named the highest-grossing actor of all time.

Writer Shirley Jackson is best known for her story “The Lottery," which suggests a sinister underside to small-town America, and The Haunting of Hill House.

LeBron James, one of the NBA's leading players, is the youngest player to win the Rookie of the Year Award, among several other distinctions. He led the Miami Heat to an NBA champion victory in 2012.

Rapper and hip-hop entrepreneur Jay-Z has won Grammy Awards, helmed Def Jam Records, created a clothing line, and married Beyoncé Knowles.

Warren Jeffs, the former leader of the polygamist sect Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was convicted in 2011 for the sexual assault of underage girls.

Muslim statesman Muhammad Ali Jinnah led Pakistan’s independence from India, and was its first governor-general and president of its constituent assembly.

Communist party leader Hu Jintao became vice president of China in 1998 and president in 2003. His administration has focused on social and economic reform.

Andrew Johnson was the successor to Abraham Lincoln and was the first president of the United States to be impeached.

Don Johnson is an actor who rose quickly to fame as undercover police office Sonny Crockett on the hit TV series Miami Vice.

The wife of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson served as first lady from 1963 to 1969.

Davy Jones is a singer and actor who found fame as the singer for the band the Monkees on the TV show by the same name.

Ukrainian actress, model and singer Milla Jovovich is best known for playing a zombie hunter in the Resident Evil action movie series.

Olympic gold medalist Florence Joyner brought style to track and field with form-fitting bodysuits, six-inch fingernails and amazing speed. She still holds the world records in the 100- and 200-meter events.

Actress Jane Kaczmarek is best known for playing the strict, yet unpredictable, Lois Wilkerson on the popular television sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.

Russian-born painter Wassily Kandinsky is credited as a leader in avant-garde art as one of the founders of pure abstraction in painting in the early 20th century.

A serial killer, Edmund Kemper killed six young, college-age women in the Santa Cruz, California, area and several members of his family.

Stan Kenton was an American pianist, composer and bandleader associated with the swing movement in jazz.

Senator John Kerry has supported free trade, expansive foreign and military policy and education spending. In 2004, he was a democratic presidential nominee.

Val Kilmer is an actor known for such films as Batman Forever, The Doors and Top Gun.

A gifted mathematician, Ada Lovelace is considered to have written instructions for the first computer program in the mid-1800s.

Ben Kingsley is an Academy Award-winning actor known for his work in films like Gandhi, Bugsy and Schindler’s List.

Sam Kinison was an American comedian best known for his crass humor and trademark scream. The Grammy-nominated comedian received his first break from fellow comedian Rodney Dangerfield.

Rudyard Kipling was an English author, famous for his works: Just So Stories, The Jungle Book and "Gunga Din." He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

Gelsey Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet at age 15, becoming its youngest member. In 1984, she left the spotlight for several years due to physical and emotional issues.

Paul Klee was a prolific Swiss and German artist best known for his large body of work, influenced by cubism, expressionism and surrealism.