The Sound of Music stays an iconic movie that nostalgic households cannot resist switching on at Christmas time for a visit down reminiscence lane.
But the place are the actors and actresses who portrayed the Von Trapp youngsters now? The film featured seven kids aged between 5 and 16 – and people who survived are scarcely recognisable compared to how they appeared when the world first found them.
Tragically, two of the unique youngster forged members died in devastating circumstances, leaving simply 5 behind. The eldest, Charmian Carr, who performed Liesl on the age of 21, succumbed to frontotemporal dementia and died aged in 2016 aged 73.
She’d by no means had a singing lesson earlier than and performing had not a lot as entered her head when she was signed up for the movie, as she’d been learning speech remedy on the time – and he or she swiftly left showbiz to start out a household afterwards. Nostalgic musical followers can be intrigued to know that Charmian bravely soldiered by means of her dance scene with Rolf within the gazebo “in agony”, because the costume division had missed the non-slip pads that ought to have been in her footwear.
Heather Menzies, who portrayed Louisa Von Trapp, was aged simply 14 when she found and, like Charmian, hadn’t had any performing expertise earlier than. Nonetheless, her angelic voice and the heartrending scenes of her rescuing somebody from drowning kickstarted her profession on-screen – and he or she went on to look in quite a few TV collection and movies, in addition to Playboy journal.
She married fellow performing legend Robert Ulrich till his loss of life in 2002, and was recognized for her advocacy work for most cancers sufferers and their households, earlier than finally falling prey to most cancers herself.
Heather died of a mind tumour in 2017, a 12 months after Charmian’s passing, and had been aged simply 68.
Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich von Trapp) remains to be alive, though completely unrecognisable from his early scenes as a floppy-haired blond boy of 14 – and the 74-year-old now resides in Australia.
Nonetheless, he’s well-known for taking the lead function of Peter Parker, aka Spiderman himself, in Seventies TV collection The Superb Spiderman, and nonetheless works as an actor, author and director within the trade in the present day.
Duane Chase (Kurt von Trapp) can also be unrecognisable, however his profession path could not have been extra completely different from a few of his co-stars, as he went on to web a “smart” job as a geologist and pc software program analyst in Seattle.
Angela Cartwright melted hearts as Brigitta von Trapp, however her darkish brown locks have since been dyed blonde and styled right into a bob, making her unrecognisable in comparison with her early beginnings too.
She dabbled in performing after the Sound of Music, and followers can nonetheless take a look at her starring function within the Misplaced in Area collection, however she subsequently left the occupation to give attention to her work as an artist, creator and photographer.
Debbie Turner, who performed Martha von Trapp, is absolutely embracing the Christmas spirit after occurring to specialize in designing Santa Claus dolls; after her 4 daughters grew up, she additionally continued to work as a floral and occasions designer/artist.
Lastly, little Gretl Von Trapp, simply 5 years outdated on the time, was portrayed by Kym Karath, who additionally dabbled within the performing world afterwards.
Nonetheless, one in all her greatest priorities has been advocating for youngsters with disabilities and co-founding the Inventive Steps program, a choice pushed by a want to assist her particular wants son.