Child, Julia Carolyn McWilliams

▪ 2005

      American chef, television personality, and author (b. Aug. 15, 1912, Pasadena, Calif.—d. Aug. 13, 2004, Montecito, Calif.), brought the art of French cookery to a vast number of Americans through her books and, especially, her programs on public television. With an outsize personality to match her towering 1.9-m (6-ft 2-in) frame and hearty voice, she endeared herself to her audience, demystifying the creation of French cuisine, unpretentiously letting any difficulties or mistakes show, and signing off with a jaunty “Bon appetit!” Child was educated at Smith College, Northampton, Mass., and worked at a few inconsequential jobs before joining the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and being sent to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). After the war she married Paul Child, whom she had met in Ceylon, and because of his work for the United States Information Agency, they lived first in Washington, D.C., and then in Paris. Desiring to improve her cooking skills, she attended the well-known Cordon Bleu cooking school. In 1951 Child and two French friends, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, founded their own school, L'École des Trois Gourmandes, and set about to write a cookbook for the American market. They continued to work on it as the Childs moved to various postings and finally settled in Cambridge, Mass., and in 1961 the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published, to instant acclaim. A promotional appearance on television led to an offer to host a cooking series on Boston's public television station, and The French Chef began in 1962 and went on to comprise 206 episodes, shown all over the U.S. She won a Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy Award in 1966. Shows that followed included Julia Child and Company (1978), Dinner at Julia's (premiered 1983), and Baking with Julia (1996). In addition to the second volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1970), later books included The Way to Cook (1989) and Cooking with Master Chefs (1993). In 2000 the French government awarded Child the Legion of Honour, and in 2003 she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A portion of her kitchen and some of her kitchen implements were put on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

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