-Julia Child, whose maiden name was McWilliams, was born Aug. 15, 1912, in Pasadena, Calif.
- She published the groundbreaking "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 1961. Her first editor was Judith Jones.
-While an undergraduate at Smith College, the 6-feet-2-inch tall Child played basketball.
-She joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services -- the precursor of the CIA -- during World War II and was posted to Ceylon and later China, where she met her husband, Paul Child. Documents declassified by National Archives revealed that she served, in fact, as a spy during the war.
-She premiered her influential public television series, "The French Chef," on WGBH and her first cooking show on boeuf Bourguignon aired on Feb. 11,1963. The show won an Emmy award in 1966.
-She was the inspiration for the character "Julia Grownup" on the Children's Television Workshop program, The Electric Company, according to Wikipedia.
-She was humorously portrayed by Dan Aykroyd on a famous episode of "Saturday Night Live" in 1978.
-Child was featured on the cover of "The NRN 50: A Hall of Fame" along with Thomas Jefferson in 1996.
-She used 573 pounds of butter on the "Baking with Julia" series.
-She passed away at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., two days before her 92nd birthday in 2004. Her last meal was homemade French onion soup.
