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. Mainstream films and music After divorcing Webb in 1954, London resumed her career, appearing in The Fighting Chance, filmed in May 1955 and released by 20th Century Fox. 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. 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." Waronker convinced London to pursue a recording career, and signed her with Liberty Records. London recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles. Her debut album Julie Is Her Name was released in December of that year, 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