Child (Julia McWilliams) is born in Pasadena, California.

Julia Child graduates from Smith College, and during World War II works for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. The 6-foot, 3-inch Child later writes, “I was too tall for either the WACS or WAVES.” She marries fellow OSS official and gourmet Paul Child in 1946, and, while living in Paris, graduates from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in 1951. Returning to the U.S., Child settles in Cambridge in 1961, with two other women publishes a popular cookbook in 1961,* and begins hosting a television cooking show in 1963* that sparks a nation-wide interest in French cooking. She dies on August 13, 2004, in Montecito, California.