Julie London

In 1943, London met Sue Carol, a talent agent and then-wife of actor Alan Ladd, while operating the elevator at Roos Bros., an upscale clothing store on Hollywood Boulevard.[11] Struck by London's features, Carol facilitated a screen test for the inexperienced actress, and London signed a contract with her. London subsequently met Esquire photographer Henry Waxman while working her second job as a clerk at a menswear store, and he shot photographs of her that appeared in the magazine's November 1943 issue.[12] These photos helped establish her as a pin-up girl prized by GIs during World War II.[13]

She made her film debut while still in high school, appearing under the name Julie London in the exploitation film Nabonga in 1944.[13] After a series of uncredited roles, she signed a contract with Warner Bros. Pictures, appearing in the war film Task Force (1949)[14] and the Western Return of the Frontiersman (1950).[15] She was then cast in the lead role of Pat Boyd in the William Castle-directed film noir The Fat Man (1951), opposite J. Scott Smart and Rock Hudson.[16] London completed shooting the film in August 1950.[17] After Warner Bros. dropped her contract,[15] London was offered a contract with Universal Pictures based on the role, but turned it down, opting instead to focus on her marriage to actor Jack Webb.[17]

After divorcing Webb in 1954, London resumed her career, appearing in the drama film The Fighting Chance, which was filmed in May 1955 and released by 20th Century Fox.[18] Earlier in 1955, London was spotted singing at a jazz club in Los Angeles by record producer Simon Waronker, who was recommended to her by her friend (and future husband) Bobby Troup.[19] Despite her notable stage fright, Waronker was impressed by London's vocals and delivery, and later recalled that "The lyrics poured out of her like a hurt bird."[19] Waronker convinced London to pursue a recording career, and signed her with the then-newly established Liberty Records.[20] London recorded 32 albums[21] in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles.[22] Her debut album, Julie Is Her Name, was released in December of that year after a self-titled single, and Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist for 1955, 1956, and 1957. She was the subject of a 1957 Life cover article in which she was quoted as saying, "It's only a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of oversmoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate."[23]

London's debut recordings (which appeared on her self-titled extended play) were completed under the New York-based Bethlehem Records label.[24] Four additional tracks recorded during these sessions were later included on the album Bethlehem's Girlfriends, a compilation album released in 1957.[25] Bobby Troup was one of the session musicians on the album. London recorded the standards "Don't Worry About Me", "Motherless Child", "A Foggy Day", and "You're Blasé". London's most famous single, "Cry Me a River", was written by her high-school classmate Arthur Hamilton and produced by Troup.[26] The recording became a million-seller after its release on her debut album in 1955.[27]

London with John Cassavetes in Saddle the Wind (1958)

While her music career earned her public notice, London also continued to appear in films, with lead roles in the film noir Crime Against Joe (1956), as well as appearing as herself in the Jayne Mansfield musical comedy The Girl Can't Help It (1956), in which London performs three songs, including "Cry Me a River".[28] The film was a box-office success, and became one of the top-30 highest-grossing films of 1956.[29] London subsequently appeared in a television advertisement for Marlboro cigarettes, singing the "Marlboro Song".[30] She went on to appear in several Westerns: In 1957, she appeared in Drango playing a Southern belle harboring fugitives,[31] followed by a starring role opposite Gary Cooper in Man of the West, a Western drama in which her character, the film's only woman, is abused and humiliated by an outlaw gang.[32] The same year, she appeared as a pending bride in the Western Saddle the Wind, opposite Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes;[33] London's performance received critical acclaim in The New York Times.[34] She subsequently appeared in The Wonderful Country in 1959, opposite Robert Mitchum, in which she plays a downtrodden wife of an army major.[35]

In 1960, London released the album Julie...At Home, which was recorded at her residence in Los Angeles.[8] The same year, she released Around Midnight, which incorporated a larger backing band in comparison to her previous releases.[36] She continued to release numerous albums on Liberty Records throughout the 1960s, including Whatever Julie Wants (1961), Love Letters (1962), The End of the World (1963), and All Through the Night (1965), the latter a collection of songs by Cole Porter.[37]

London and second husband Bobby Troup in character in season one of Emergency!

London appeared on numerous television series in the 1960s, including guest appearances on Rawhide (1960),[38] Laramie (1960),[38] I Spy (1965),[39] and The Big Valley (1968).[40] She and second husband Bobby Troup also frequently appeared as panelists on the game shows Tattletales, Hollywood Squares, and Masquerade Party, among others, in the 1970s.[41] On May 28, 1964, Troup and she recorded a one-hour program for Japanese television in Japan.[42] London sang 13 of her classic songs, including "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Lonesome Road", and "Cry Me a River".[42] She continued to release studio albums until the end of the decade, with her final studio album being Yummy, Yummy, Yummy (1969), a collection of contemporary covers of tracks by Laura Nyro, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and others.[43] After this, London stopped singing professionally, as she had lost significant vocal control due to years of smoking and drinking.[44]

London remained close with ex-husband Jack Webb, and in 1972, he cast her and Troup in his television series Emergency!, on which he was executive producer. London played Rampart General Hospital's chief emergency-room nurse, Dixie McCall, while Troup was cast as emergency-room physician Dr. Joe Early. They also appeared in the same roles in an episode of the Webb-produced series Adam-12.[45] The on-screen friendship among London, Troup, Randolph Mantooth, and Kevin Tighe, who played paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto, carried over into real life. London and Troup maintained their friendship with Mantooth and Tighe after the series ended.[46]

In 1977, after a six-year run of 128 episodes, Emergency! was cancelled, despite good ratings. London, the only actress to appear in every episode of the series, was invited back for two of the four subsequent TV movie specials, before the show finally ended in 1979. During this time, London appeared in television advertisements for Rose Milk Skin Care Cream.[47] Later, Webb offered London a position as executive producer of future television projects, but she chose to retire from the television industry work to spend more time with her family. She completed her last musical recording "My Funny Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine, in 1981.[48]