London's 35-year acting career began in films in 1944 and included playing opposite Gary Cooper in Man of the West (1958) and Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country (1959). She achieved continuing success in the TV medical drama Emergency! (1972–1979), co-starring her real-life husband, Bobby Troup, and produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb, in which London played the female lead role of nurse Dixie McCall. She and Randolph Mantooth, who played one-half of her medical students, a paramedic, in the series, were very close to her family, until her death in 2000.
Born in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Jack and Josephine Peck, who were a vaudeville song-and-dance team. When she was fourteen the family moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, she began appearing in movies. She graduated from the Hollywood Professional High School in 1945.
London began singing under the name Gayle Peck in public in her teens before appearing in a film. She was discovered by talent agent Sue Carol (wife of actor Alan Ladd), while working as an elevator operator. Her early film career, however, did not include any singing roles.
London recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles. 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."
London's debut recordings were for the Bethlehem Records label. While shopping for a record deal, she recorded four tracks that would later be included on the compilation album Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1955. Bobby Troup backed London on the album, for which 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. The recording became a million-seller after its release in December 1955 and also sold on reissue in April 1983 from the attention brought by a Mari Wilson cover. London performed the song in the film The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and her recording gained later attention in the films Passion of Mind (2000) and V for Vendetta (2006). The song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was featured on the HBO television series Six Feet Under and appears on its soundtrack album. London's "Must Be Catchin'" was featured in the 2011 premiere episode of the ABC series Pan Am. Her last recording was "My Funny Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine (1981).
Other popular singles include "Hot Toddy", "Daddy", and "Desafinado". Recordings such as "Go Slow" epitomized her career style: her voice is slow, smoky, and playfully sensual.
She was married to Jack Webb, of Dragnet fame. Her obvious beauty and self-poise (she was a pinup girl prized by GIs during World War II) contrasted with his pedestrian appearance and stiff-as-a-board acting technique (much parodied by impersonators). This unlikely pairing arose from his and her love for jazz; their marriage lasted from July 1947 to November 1953. They had two daughters, one who was killed in a traffic accident in the 1990s and one who survived London. In 1954, having become somewhat reclusive after her divorce from Jack Webb, she met jazz composer and musician Bobby Troup at a club on La Brea Blvd. They married on December 31, 1959 and remained married until Troup's death in February 1999. Together, they had one daughter and twin sons.
London suffered a stroke in 1995, and was in poor health until her death in Encino, California, at the age of seventy-four, survived by four of her five children. She died on18th October 2000, and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
You Stepped Out of a Dream
Julie London Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
Could there be eyes like yours,
Could there be lips like yours
Could there be smiles like yours,
Honest and truly?
You stepped out of a cloud
I want to take you away, away from the crowd
Alone and apart out of a dream,
Safe in my heart
You stepped out of a dream
You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
Could there be eyes like yours,
Could there be lips like yours
Could there be smiles like yours,
Honest and truly?
You stepped out of a cloud
I want to take you away, away from the crowd
And have you all to myself,
Alone and apart out of a dream,
Safe in my heart
The song "You Stepped Out of a Dream" by Julie London is a romantic ballad that talks about the feeling of meeting someone who seems almost too good to be true. It begins with the line "You stepped out of a dream," which suggests that the subject of the song appeared suddenly and unexpectedly in the singer's life. The singer then goes on to describe the person's eyes, lips, and smiles as being too wonderful to be real. The repetition of the words "could there be" emphasizes the singer's disbelief that someone this perfect could actually exist.
The second verse describes the desire to be alone with this person, away from the rest of the world. "I want to take you away, away from the crowd, and have you all to myself" suggests that the singer is deeply in love and wants to spend as much time as possible with this person. The final line, "safe in my heart," emphasizes the protective, caring nature of the singer's love.
This song captures the feeling of falling in love with someone who seems almost too perfect to be real. The imagery of someone stepping out of a dream adds to the surreal, dreamlike quality of the song. The singer's awe and admiration for this person are clear, and the desire to keep them close and safe reflects deep feelings of love and protectiveness.
Line by Line Meaning
You stepped out of a dream
You appear to be something from a fantasy, almost magical and surreal.
You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
Your presence is beyond amazing and impossible to believe.
Could there be eyes like yours,
Is it even possible to have such beautiful and enchanting eyes like yours?
Could there be lips like yours
Can one have such luscious and captivating lips as yours?
Could there be smiles like yours,
Is it even possible to have a smile as genuine and heartwarming as yours?
Honest and truly?
Are you truly this authentic and sincere, or is this just my imagination?
You stepped out of a cloud
You seem to have appeared out of nowhere, like a dream or a cloud.
I want to take you away, away from the crowd
I wish to be with you alone and away from the distractions of other people.
And have you all to myself,
I want to have you all to myself, to cherish and adore.
Alone and apart out of a dream,
Just the two of us, isolated from the rest of the world, like a dream come true.
Safe in my heart
I want to hold you near, keep you safe and protected in my heart forever.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Gus Kahn, Nacio Herb Brown
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind