Julia Child photos

Julia Child, seen here shopping in an open-air market, introduced French cuisine to mainstream America through her 734-page cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961, and her popular television show The French Chef, which premiered on WGBH in 1963. Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

In 1948, Julia Child moved to Paris with her husband Paul, who was assigned to a post there as part of the United States Foreign Service.  In Paris, Julia fell in love with French food and enrolled in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.

Child was also a television pioneer as the host of her popular cooking show The French Chef, which was on the air for 10 years. Fans loved Child for her cheerful approach in the kitchen like this bit of fowl play with chickens.  Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

A television crew hides behind Child as they tape an episode of The French Chef, which won the first Emmy for an educational program. Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

Child didn’t start cooking until she was 32 years old. “Until I discovered cooking, I was never really interested in anything,” she said about her later in life passion. Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

At 6 feet, two inches tall, Child was an impressive presence in the kitchen. Her husband Paul famously accommodated her stature by specially designing high counters in the kitchen of their home in Cambridge, MA. Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

While Child cooked up delicious recipes, she was also know for turning out some dishy quotes such as: “The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken. Bon appetit.” Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

In her memoir My Life in France, Julia Child recalled the seafood dish, “sole meuniere,” her first meal in Paris, as a life-changing moment. Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

“Cooking is like love,” Child said. “It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” Photo courtesy of Paul Child.

In 2001, just before she turned 90, Julia Child donated the kitchen from her home in Cambridge, MA, to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, where it is currently on display.  Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Child used her 14x20-foot kitchen, now on exhibit at the Smithsonian, as the set of three television shows and as the testing ground for many recipes featured in her cookbooks. Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

When Julia and Paul Child moved into their Cambridge, MA, home in 1961, Paul designed the kitchen to meet Julia’s cooking needs. Their large oven could fit two 25-pound turkeys.  Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

One of Julia Child’s signature dishes was her recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon, a hearty French stew which became popular in America through her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Throughout her career, Child published 17 cookbooks including Baking with Julia, which she published in 1996 with contributions from some of the world's top pastry chefs and master bakers. 

Julia Child, posing in front of what she called her "battery de cuisine," a pegboard wall of copper pots she used for whipping up her famous dishes.

Julia Child passed away at her California retirement home in 2004 from kidney failure. She died two days before her 92nd birthday, but expressed no intentions of slowing down: "In this line of work...you keep right on till you're through," she said.