Cooking Show Queen Julia Child (1912-2004)
It’s been said that everyone in the twentieth century with a TV set knew Julia Child, and that may very well be. On Thursday, August 12, the six-foot-two, squared-jawed American charmer who warbled her way through thousands of recipes, died at her home in an assisted-living center in Montecito, California. Child was just two days short of her 92nd birthday. As far as TV is concerned, she bloomed late — debuting in 1963 at the age of fifty-one. Her first PBS series, The French Chef, not only introduced Americans to a new way of eating — it introduced a new TV genre: the cooking show. She followed that long-running program with Julia Child and Company, Julia Child and More Company, Dinner at Julia’s, Baking with Julia, the Master Chefs series and Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home with Jacques Pepin. She was also a regular on Good Morning, America. If it weren’t for Child, would the Food Network exist? Mais, non! For the TV Academy Foundation’s Archive of American Television, Child was interviewed two years ago by Michael Rosen, executive producer of the archive. Following is an excerpt of their conversation. Watch an interview clip as Julia Child talks about her first time on TV