10 lesser-known facts about Julia Child

Chef and cookbook author Julia Child poses in her kitchen in Boston in 1964.

Child was born Julia McWilliams in Pasadena, California, in 1912. She moved to the East Coast to attend Smith College, graduating in 1934 with a degree in history.

Child, second from right, serves as a bridesmaid at the wedding of her friend Gabrielle Wright Bradley in 1937.

Child with her husband, Paul, on their wedding day in Lumberville, Pennsylvania, in 1946. The couple met in what is now Sri Lanka while serving for the Office of Strategic Services after World War II.

Child, right, and her sister, Dorothy, on a Paris street corner circa 1949. The Childs relocated to France in 1948 when Paul was transferred there as part of his job with the US Information Service.

Child with other chefs and students at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris in 1950. Child has said her first meal in France inspired her exploration of cooking and food.

Child kneads dough by an open kitchen window in a cabin in Maine, circa 1952.

Child and her husband, Paul, pose for a Valentine’s Day portrait in Vermont in 1958. Paul created a long-running series of Valentine’s Day photos of the couple.

From left, Simone Beck, Child, and Louisette Bertholle peel vegetables at Ecole Des Trois Gourmandes, the cooking school they founded in Paris. The trio co-authored “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” the cookbook that launched Child’s career in 1961.

Child is joined by crew members on the set of “The French Chef” in 1963.

Child holds onions while filming an episode of “The French Chef” in 1964.

Child and her husband, Paul, review set drawings in 1964.

Child talks with audience members at the WGBH studio in Boston in 1965.

Child poses with an Emmy Award she won for “The French Chef” in 1966. Child was the first educational television personality to win an Emmy Award.

Child has her hair done while prepping for the filming of a TV special at the White House in 1968.

Child poses for a portrait by the ocean in 1973.

Child conducts a cooking demonstration with television personality Fred Rogers on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” in 1974.

Child chops squash as her husband, Paul, photographs her for a cookbook in 1975. Paul was an avid photographer and painstakingly documented their lives in photos.

Child and her husband play music together at their home in Massachusetts in 1975.

Child and renowned chef James Beard are photographed in Child’s kitchen circa 1978. The pair were lifelong friends, meeting shortly after Child’s first cookbook was published.

Child feeds a fellow chef in 1979.

Child selects items at a charcuterie shop in the late 1970s.

Child makes a sauce in 1982.

Child and actor George Hamilton dine together in 1983.

Child and her husband Paul shoot a segment for a cooking show in 1985.

Joan Lunden, Charles Gibson and Child cook on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in 1990.

Child talks with fans at a book signing in Toronto in 1991.

Child with Martha Stewart in 1995.

Child cooks with Jacques Pepin in her kitchen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1998. The longtime friends shared a love of French food and even co-hosted a cooking show, “Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home,” that aired on PBS in 1999.

Lidia Bastianich, an Italian chef and restauranteur, prepares dessert with Child in 1999.

Child and chef Wolfgang Puck attend the Bon Appetit American Food and Entertaining Awards in New York in September 1998.

Child poses for a portrait in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1999.

Child speaks as first lady Hillary Clinton and Sara Lee Chairman and CEO John Bryan look on at the White House in 1999. Child was selected as a recipient of Sara Lee’s Frontrunner Award, which recognizes women daring to be first in the arts, business, government and the humanities.

Child is congratulated after receiving an honorary doctorate from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2000.

Child joins chef Emeril Lagasse on the set of Lagasse’s show in New York in 2000. Child inspired a generation of chefs who followed in her footsteps.

Boston-area chefs wearing sunglasses and funny hats join Child at a farewell dinner in Cambridge, Massachussets, in 2001. Child soon moved back to her native California.

Child sits in the kitchen that was removed from her home and reassembled in Washington, DC, at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2002. She was on hand to open the exhibit, which included contents she donated.

Child and winemaker Eileen Crane share a toast during a brunch to celebrate Child’s 90th birthday in Napa, California, in 2002.