The three women also ran a cooking school in Paris, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes (the school of the three hearty eaters). Along with two French friends, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, she co-wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961, which aimed to make French cooking accessible to Americans. While in Paris with her husband, Julia enrolled at le Cordon Bleu, where she attended French cooking classes. Paul joined the United States Information Agency and was assigned to the US Embassy in Paris in 1949. She married her husband, Paul Child, in 1946. She was born Julia McWilliams in Pasadena, California, on Aug.

More than a decade after her death, Julia Child continues to captivate the public's imagination. In 1963, a charismatic woman with a passion for French cuisine and an inimitable voice stepped in front of the cameras at WGBH and introduced Americans to the art of French cooking.