Julia Child Biography 1912 to 2004

Julia Child Biography
née Julia Carolyn McWilliams
(1912–2004)

Popular TV chef and author Julia Child was born Julia McWilliams, on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California. The eldest of three children, Julia was educated at San Francisco's elite Katherine Branson School for Girls, where (at a towering height of 6 feet, 2 inches) she was the tallest student in her class. In 1930, she enrolled at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Upon her graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked in the advertising department of the prestigious home furnishings company W&J Sloane.

In 1941, at the onset of World War II, Julia moved to Washington, D.C., where she volunteered as a research assistant for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a newly formed government intelligence agency. She and her colleagues were sent on assignment to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), an island off the coast of India. In her position, Julia played a key role in the communication of top secret documents between U.S. government officials and their intelligence officers. In 1945, she was sent to China, where she began a relationship with fellow OSS employee Paul Child. Following the end of World War II, the couple returned to America and were married.

In 1948, when Paul was reassigned to the U.S. Information Service at the American Embassy in Paris, the Childs moved to France. While there, Julia developed a penchant for French cuisine and attended the world-famous Cordon Bleu cooking school. Following her six-month training (which included private lessons with master chef Max Bugnard), Julia banded with fellow Cordon Bleu students Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle to form the cooking school L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes (The School of the Three Gourmands). With a goal of adapting sophisticated French cuisine for mainstream Americans, the trio collaborated on a two-volume cookbook titled Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). Published in the U.S., the 800-page book was considered a groundbreaking work and has since become a standard guide for the culinary community.

Then living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Julia promoted her book on the Boston public broadcasting station. Displaying her trademark forthright manner and hearty humor, she prepared an omelet on air. The public's response was so enthusiastic that she was invited back to tape her own series on cookery for the network. Premiering on WGBH in 1962, The French Chef TV series, like Mastering the Art of French Cooking, succeeded in changing the way Americans related to food, while also establishing Julia as a local celebrity. Shortly thereafter, The French Chef was syndicated to 96 stations throughout America. For her efforts, Julia received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 1964 followed by an Emmy Award in 1966.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Julia made regular appearances on the ABC morning show Good Morning, America. Her other endeavors included the television programs Julia Child and Company (1978), Julia Child and More Company (1980), and Dinner at Julia's (1983), as well as a slew of bestselling cookbooks that covered every aspect of culinary knowledge.

In 1993, Julia was the first woman inducted into the Culinary Institute Hall of Fame. Her most recent cookbooks were In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs (1995), Baking with Julia (1996), Julia's Delicious Little Dinners (1998), and Julia's Casual Dinners (1999), which were all accompanied by highly rated television specials.

Following a 40-year career that has made her name synonymous with fine food, Julia received France's highest honor, the Legion d'Honneur, in November 2000. And in August 2002, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History unveiled an exhibit featuring the kitchen where she filmed three of her popular cooking shows. Child died in August 2004 at her home in Santa Barbara, California; she was 91.

In August 2008, the National Archives de-classified 750,000 pages of personnel files. The documents revealed that Child was, in fact, a spy during World War II. She served with the Office of Strategic Services, the huge spy network created by President Franklin Roosevelt and forerunner of today's CIA.

Julia's memory continues to live on, through her various cookbooks and her syndicated cooking show. In 2009, a film directed by Nora Ephron entitled Julie & Julia is slated to hit theaters. The movie chronicles Child's life, as well as her influence on other aspiring cooks.

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