Julia Child
Julia Child, born Julia Carolyn McWilliams on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California, was a groundbreaking American chef, author, and television personality. She is widely recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public through her influential television show, "The French Chef," which aired from 1963 to 1973. Child's culinary journey began after she moved to France with her husband, Paul Child, where she studied at Le Cordon Bleu and developed her passion for cooking. In collaboration with fellow cooks, she published "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 1961, a seminal cookbook that sold 100,000 copies in its first year and became a staple for home cooks. Throughout her career, she produced several acclaimed television series and authored numerous cookbooks, showcasing her love for French cooking and making it accessible to a wider audience. Julia Child received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003, honoring her contributions to American culinary arts. She passed away on August 13, 2004, just two days shy of her ninety-second birthday, leaving a lasting legacy that continues to inspire both home cooks and professional chefs alike.
Julia Child
Television chef and cookbook author Julia Child was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California. Child is credited with awakening 1960s America to the art of French cuisine and the pleasures of home cooking through her public television show, The French Chef.
The 2009 film Julie & Julia, directed by Nora Ephron, chronicles the lives of Julia Child and Julie Powell, a frustrated secretary who seeks solace in cooking her way through Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). In the film, Child is portrayed by actress Meryl Streep.
Born and raised in California, Child attended Smith College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, graduating in 1934 with a degree in history. In 1941, when the US entered World War II, Child went to Washington, DC where she worked for the Office of War Information before applying to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1944, Julia McWilliams met Paul Child when she was deployed to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and China. They married in 1946, and Paul Child was assigned to the US Information Agency in France in 1948. It was there that Julia Child began taking classes at the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She went on to teach fellow Americans at her own cooking school, L’École des Trois Gourmandes. She also began working on a cookbook for an American audience with friends and fellow cooks Simone (Simca) Beck and Louisette Bertholle. The book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was published in 1961. It contained over 500 recipes and sold 100,000 copies in its first year.
In 1963, Boston public television station WGBH gave Child her own half-hour cooking show. The French Chef ran through 1973. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) continued to air these shows through the late 1980s, and created more series with Child, including Julia Child and Company (1978), Julia Child and More Company (1980), Dinner at Julia's (1983), and Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999) with French chef Jacques Pépin. Her books include Julia Child & Company (1978), The Way To Cook (1989), Cooking With Master Chefs (1993), and Baking with Julia (1996).
Julia Child received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, in 2003. She died at the age of ninety-one, two days before her ninety-second birthday, on August 13, 2004. She is admired for encouraging Americans to experiment with French cooking, and for influencing a number of modern “celebrity chefs.”