Julia Child Movie and her Prud'homme Relatives

Netflix is running the movie Julie & Julia (2009) in its rotation and seeing the movie scroll by last night, and remembering their is a Richard Bissell connection, we decided to take a look.

The movie was mostly entertaining, but not necessarily a must watch. The movie is adapted from two books about Julia Child, including "My Life in France"  Child's autobiography written with Alex Prud'homme. The name "Prud'homme" automatically raises an eyebrow, since their are a few with that name in the Robert Swan Mueller family tree on the Richard Bissell branch.

Julia Child - OSS Spy & French Food Foody

Julia Child was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams in 1912 in Pasadena California and is best known for introducing French food and culinary techniques to Americans with the publication of her first cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 1961, and her subsequent TV shows. 

Paul Cushing Child and Julia met in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) while both were serving in the OSS during the second World War. They were married in 1946.

After the war, Paul Cushing Child joined the State Department and was an "exhibits officer" with the United States Information Agency (USIA.) Julia became interested in French cooking after they were assigned to the US Embassy in Paris in 1948. 

The short version of the relationship between Julie Child and Richard Bissell is; Paul Cushing Child's niece married Richard M. Bissell's nephew.