Julie London

In addition to her musical notoriety, London was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1974 for her portrayal of Nurse Dixie McCall in the television series Emergency! Julie London was born in Santa Rosa, California, to vaudevillian parents, London was discovered while working as an elevator operator in downtown Los Angeles, and she began her career as an actress. London's 35-year acting career began in film in 1944 and included roles as the female lead in numerous Westerns, co-starring with Rock Hudson in The Fat Man (1951), with Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes in Saddle the Wind (1958), with Gary Cooper in Man of the West (1958) and with Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country (1959). In the mid-1950s, London signed a recording contract with Liberty Records, marking the beginning of her professional musical career. She released her final studio album in 1969 but achieved continuing success by playing the female starring role of nurse Dixie McCall in the television series Emergency! (1972–1979), in which she acted with her husband, Bobby Troup. The show was produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb.

London was born Julie Peck on September 26, 1926, in Santa Rosa, California, the only child of Josephine Rosalie Peck (née Taylor; 1905 – 1976) and Jack Peck (1901–1977), who were a vaudeville song-and-dance team. In 1929, when she was three years old, the family moved to San Bernardino, California, where she made her professional singing debut on her parents' radio program. Throughout her early life, both London and her mother were admirers of Billie Holiday. London was described by friends and family as a shy child "without much self-confidence". In 1941, when she was 14, her family moved to Hollywood, California. In her teenage years, she began to sing in local nightclubs in Los Angeles. She graduated from the Hollywood Professional School in 1945 and worked as an elevator operator in downtown Los Angeles throughout high school.

In 1943, London met Sue Carol, a talent agent and then-wife of actor Alan Ladd, while operating the elevator at Roos Bros., (Roos/Atkins), an upscale clothing store on Hollywood Boulevard. Struck by London's physical features, Carol facilitated a screen test for the inexperienced actress, and London signed a contract with her. London 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. These photos helped establish her as a pin-up girl during World War II. She made her film debut while still in high school, appearing under the name Julie London in Nabonga in 1944. She later starred in the 1947 film The Red House with Edward G. Robinson. After a series of uncredited roles, she signed a contract with Warner Bros. Pictures, appearing in the war film Task Force (1949) and the Western Return of the Frontiersman (1950). She was cast in the lead role of Pat Boyd in the William Castle-directed The Fat Man (1951). London completed shooting the film in August 1950. After Warner Bros. dropped her contract, 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.

London remained close with ex-husband Jack Webb, and in 1972, he cast her and Troup in his television series Emergency!, of which he was executive producer. London played Dixie McCall, Rampart's Chief Nurse of The Emergency Room, and Troup was cast as emergency room physician Dr. Joe Early, along with her best friend Robert Fuller as Dr. Kelly Brackett, Rampart's Chief of Emergency Medicine. They all appeared in the same roles in an episode of the Webb-produced series Adam-12. 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 TV movie specials, and the show ended in 1979. During this time, London appeared in television advertisements for Rose Milk Skin Care Cream. Later, Webb offered London a position as executive producer of future television projects, but she chose to retire from the television industry to spend more time with her family. She completed "My Funny Valentine", her last musical recording, for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine in 1981.

Predominantly a torch singer, London was described by critics as both "sultry" and "low-keyed". Her recordings were often noted by critics for being "intimate", typically featuring sparse guitar and bass arrangements. A BBC Legends episode noted: "Some singers sing as though they are addressing a crowd; some sing as though they are in a bar with a lot of people—[London] sings as though she's in one room, with you—and that's the difference." Music journalist Lucy O'Brien stated: "[In] the mid-'50s...pop [was] in a period of transition from big band swing to small jazz combos; you've got rock'n'roll, you've got R&B—and she managed to incorporate all those influences and feed that into her music. She was very much of her time." As her career progressed into the 1960s, London's recordings incorporated more elaborate instrumentation, with her vocals backed by larger ensembles.

In 1947, London married actor/producer Jack Webb. Their relationship was based partly on their common love of jazz. They had two daughters, Stacy and Lisa. London and Webb divorced in 1954. Julie married Bobby Troup in 1959. Jack Webb died December 23, 1982. Stacy Webb died in a traffic accident in 1996, one day after her mother's 70th birthday. Withdrawn and introverted despite her public persona, London rarely granted media interviews and never discussed the breakup of her marriage to Webb.

London was a chain smoker from the age of 16 and at times smoked in excess of three packs of cigarettes per day. She suffered a stroke in 1995 and remained in poor health for the following five years. In late 1999, she was diagnosed with lung cancer but decided to forego treatment due to her weakened physical state. On October 17, 2000, London was rushed from her home to the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center after choking and struggling to breathe. She died in the hospital in the early morning hours of October 18 of what was later determined to be cardiac arrest; she was 74. London was cremated and buried next to Troup in the Courts of Remembrance Columbarium of Providence at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for recording) is at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.