See also Biography Index (J) :: Filmography Index (J) :: Discography Index (J)

Julia Child (born Julia Carolyn McWilliams August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author and television personality. She introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs, notably The French Chef which premiered in 1963 and showcased her one-of-a-kind persona. Her most famous work is the 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Born Julia Carolyn McWilliams to John and Julia Carolyn ("Caro") McWilliams in Pasadena, California. She grew up eating traditional New England food prepared by the family maid. She attended Polytechnic School from fourth grade to ninth grade and then The Branson School in Ross, California. After graduating in 1934 from Smith College—where at six feet, two inches (1.88 m) tall she played basketball — with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, she moved to New York City and worked as a copywriter for the advertising department of upscale home-furnishing firm W. & J. Sloane. After returning to California in 1937, shortly before her mother died, she spent four years at home, writing for local publications and briefly working in advertising again. She lived in Washington, D.C., where she was married on September 1, 1946 to Paul Cushing Child. Child, a Boston native who had lived in Paris as an artist and poet, was known for his sophisticated palate. He joined the United States Foreign Service and introduced his wife to fine cuisine. In 1949, they moved to Paris after the US State Department assigned Paul there as an exhibits officer with the United States Information Agency. The couple had no children. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was the star of numerous television programs, including Julia Child & Company and Dinner at Julia`s; at the same time she also produced what she considered her magnum opus, a book and instructional video series collectively entitled The Way To Cook, which was published in 1989. On August 13, 2004, Child died of kidney failure at her assisted-living home in Montecito, two days shy of her 92nd birthday.