Julia Child In Memoriam: The Icon Who Cooked Her Way Into History

Julia Child, born Julia McWilliams on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California, was the eldest of three children. As a child, she was affectionately called "Juke," "Juju," and "Jukies." Her father, John McWilliams Jr., was a Princeton alumnus and an early investor in California real estate. Her mother, Julia Carolyn Weston, was an heiress to a paper company

Child enjoyed a privileged upbringing due to her family’s wealth. Educated at the prestigious Katherine Branson School for Girls in San Francisco, she stood out as the tallest student at 6 feet, 2 inches. Known for her lively and adventurous spirit, she was also skilled in golf, tennis, and small-game hunting.

After graduating, Child moved to New York and worked in advertising at W. & J. Sloane. She was later fired from the Los Angeles branch for "gross insubordination." In 1941, she relocated to Washington, D.C., where she volunteered as a research assistant for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). There, she played a key role in handling top-secret documents and was assigned to various locations, including Kunming, China, and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In 1945, while in Sri Lanka, Child began a relationship with fellow OSS employee Paul Child. They married in September 1946 and returned to the U.S. after World War II. In 1948, when Paul was reassigned to the U.S. Information Service at the American Embassy in Paris, the Childs moved to France. There, Julia developed a passion for French cuisine, trained at the Cordon Bleu cooking school, and studied with master chef Max Bugnard. She later co-founded L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes (The School of the Three Gourmands) with fellow students Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.

With a goal of adapting sophisticated French cuisine for mainstream Americans, Child and her colleagues Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle collaborated on a two-volume cookbook, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. The book was considered groundbreaking upon its September 1961 release and remained the bestselling cookbook for five straight years after its publication.

In 1962, while promoting her first cookbook on a public television station near her Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, Child's forthright manner and humor shone through as she made an omelet. Her engaging performance led to an invitation to host her own cooking series, initially for $50 per show, which became 'The French Chef' on WGBH in 1963.

Much like Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 'The French Chef' transformed how Americans viewed food and made Child a local celebrity. The show's popularity soon led to its syndication across 96 stations nationwide. Following this success, Child starred in additional series, including 'Julia Child and Company' (1978), 'Julia Child and More Company' (1980), and 'Dinner at Julia's' (1983). Throughout this period, she also made regular appearances on ABC's 'Good Morning America'.

Early in her television career, Child won the George Foster Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy Award in 1966. In 1993, she became the first woman inducted into the Culinary Institute Hall of Fame. In November 2000, she was awarded France's highest honor, the Legion d'Honneur, recognizing her influential 40-year career. 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.

Not everyone admired Child; she faced criticism from viewers for not washing her hands and her perceived poor kitchen manners. One letter described her as "revolting" for handling raw meat. In response, Child dismissed such concerns, saying she disliked "over-sanitary" attitudes. Regarding the high fat content in French cuisine, she advised moderation, stating, "I would rather eat one tablespoon of chocolate russe cake than three bowls of Jell-O."

Child died of kidney failure in August 2004 at her assisted-living home in Montecito, California, just two days before her 92nd birthday. Even in her final days, she remained determined to stay active, saying, "In this line of work ... you keep right on till you're through. Retired people are boring."