Julia Child

Julia Child (August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004), born Julia Carolyn McWilliams, was a famous American gourmet cook, author, and television personality who introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs. Her most famous works are the 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the television series The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.

Youth and World War II

Julia Child was born to parents John and Caro McWilliams in the conservative, wealthy community of Pasadena, California and she grew up eating traditional New England food prepared by the family maid. After graduating from Smith College, where the 6'2" Julia played basketball, with a B.A. degree in 1934, 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. Civic-minded, she volunteered with the American Red Cross and, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) after being turned down by the United States Navy for being too tall.

Related Topics:
Pasadena, California - New England - Smith College - New York City - Copywriter - Advertising - American Red Cross - Pearl Harbor - Office of Strategic Services - United States Navy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For a year, she worked at the OSS Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section in Washington, D.C., where she was a file clerk and also helped in the development of a shark repellent. She was posted to Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1943, where she met her future husband Paul Cushing Child, a high-ranking OSS cartographer, and later to China, where she received the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service as head of the Registry of the OSS Secretariat.

Related Topics:
Washington, D.C. - Kandy - Sri Lanka - China

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Following World War II, she resided in Washington, D.C., where she was married on September 1, 1946 to Paul Child, a man of sophisticated palate who came from a prominent Boston family and had lived in Paris as an artist and poet. He joined the United States Foreign Service and also introduced his wife to fine cuisine. She learned to cook in order to please him and entertain their large social circle. In 1948, they moved to Paris after the U.S. State Department assigned Paul Child as an exhibits officer with the United States Information Agency in Paris, France. The couple did not have any children.

Related Topics:
World War II - September 1 - 1946 - Boston - Paris - United States Foreign Service - U.S. State Department - United States Information Agency - Paris, France

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~