UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Box 951781, Los Angeles,
California  90095-1781, Attention: Jasmine Su
 
 

"Julie London, Sultry Singer and Actress of 50's, Dies at 74"

by Douglas Martin
New York Times, October 19, 2000

Julie London, whose understated voice and striking honey-blond appearance
made her one of the top female vocalists of the 1950's and 60's, died
yesterday at a hospital in Southern California. She was 74.

Miss London, who lived in the San Fernando Valley, suffered a stroke five
years ago and was in poor health, a spokesman for Encino-Tarzana Regional
Medical Center told The Associated Press.

She was also an actress in scores of movies and television shows, including
the popular role of Nurse Dixie McCall in "Emergency!" in the 1970's.

Miss London went from playing bit parts in the early 1940's to starring
roles and pin-up status among World War II servicemen. Then, in 1947, she
married the actor Jack Webb, later famous on "Dragnet," and stopped working
to be a full-time wife and mother. After they divorced five years later, she
became a serious singer under the tutelage of Bobby Troup, a jazz musician
and songwriter.

Her first 45 single, released in 1955, was "Cry Me a River," and it was
included on her first album, "Julie Is Her Name." More than three million
copies of the album and single were sold. She made more than 30 albums.

She was voted one of the top female vocalists of 1955, 1956 and 1957. On New
Year's Eve 1959, she married Mr. Troup, who died last year.

Adjectives such as sexy, intimate, breathy, husky and suggestive were
applied to her singing. The singer herself told Life magazine in 1957: "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."

Her sound and her looks were closely intertwined. Most of her albums were
graced by sultry, yet sophisticated pictures of her.

Miss London was born as Julie Peck in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Sept. 26, 1926.
Her parents, Jack and Josephine Peck formed a song and dance team in
vaudeville and radio. In 1929, they moved to San Bernardino, where her
parents had a radio show on which Julie sometimes appeared. In 1941, they
moved to Los Angeles and she graduated from Hollywood Professional High
School.

She then took a job as an elevator operator in a department store where she
was discovered by talent agent Sue Carol, the wife of the actor Alan Ladd.
She appeared in her first film, "Nabonga," in 1944, and began singing with
the Matty Malnech Orchestra. She met Mr. Webb who was then in the Marine
Corps. They married in 1947, and she gave up her budding movie career to
become a full-time wife and mother.

They had two daughters, Stacy and Lisa. They divorced in 1953. After meeting
Mr. Troup she began singing again, recovering some of what she called
sagging confidence.

Her movie career also revived. She starred as an alcoholic singer in the
1956 film "The Great Man." She then starred or co-starred in "Man of the
West," "Voice in the Mirror," "The George Raft Story" and "The Third Voice."
She composed the title song for "Voice in the Mirror."

In 1972, she began her role in "Emergency!" After the show ended in 1977,
she did one last film before retiring from show business.

She is survived by a daughter from her marriage to Mr. Webb, Lisa Breen of
Manhattan Beach, Calif. She also left three children from her 39-year
marriage to Mr. Troup: a daughter, Kelly Ronick of West Los Angeles, and
twin sons, Jody, of Los Angeles, and Reese, of West Los Angeles.

~

A GREAT NUMBER OF SYMPATHIES AND CONDOLENCES TO JULIE'S FAMILY
AND FRIENDS HAVE COME IN VIA THIS WEBSITE'S EMAIL -  I WISH TO PASS
ALONG JUST A VERY FEW OF THE COMMENTS ON TO HER FANS, FRIENDS, & FAMILY -

lovely thoughts and photo sent in a file from Joan Emerson

"her beauty will never fade and her velvet voice will never be stilled"

"Her legacy will forever live on through her timeless recordings and through her wonderful film and television roles"

I am very saddened to learn of her passing today, and would like to pass my condolences on
to her family, friends, and fans"

"Along with her other fans, I feel a great sense of loss.  My condolences to her family."

"SHE has provided us all with her wonderful singing voice and TV/movie entertainment.  SHE will be missed."

"How sad..My condolences to all of her family and fans.... She was a class act!"

"She has gone to be with Bobby again..."

"Another Angel has gone to heaven"

"She is unforgettable; now I will miss her more..."
 
 

SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT JULIE HAS AN INCREDIBLE NUMBER OF FANS
WHO ARE MOURNING HER PASSING WITH KIND THOUGHTS AND WORDS.
SOME EMAILS HAVE BEEN FROM PERSONAL FRIENDS, WHOM I'M SURE
WOULD RATHER HAVE THEM REACHING FAMILY MEMBERS THAN JUST ME -
IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW OR WHERE I COULD SEND THEM ALONG, I ENCOURAGE
YOU TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME SO I CAN DO SO. REGARDS AND CONDOLENCES, GREG.