Don’t worry if you are not able to remember because this article will refresh your memory. Without wasting much time, let’s get into The Sound Of Music actors then and now.
Julie Andrews (Maria)
How do you solve a problem like Maria? Julie Andrews (Maria) was a free-spirited young postulant with a deep love for music and the mountains, but her uniqueness often rendered her an outsider with the other nuns.
Andrews was dubbed as Britain’s youngest prima donna, appearing on Weston’s premier stage at just 13 years before making her broadway debut at 19. She quickly earned two Tony awards before making a vital connection in 1957. She was cast in Rogers and Hammerstein’s TV movie Cinderella.
She won the best actress academy award in 1964 and the following year, Sound Of Music took her back to the ceremonies, but she lost out this time to Julie Christie from Darling. In 1997, Andrews experienced a devastating blow. Toward the end of a broadway run, she was forced to quit the show due to hoarseness in her voice. She underwent surgery to remove vocal nodules but her vocal cords were permanently damaged.
While she never regained her powerful crisp singing voice, she did continue to act. Now in her mid-80s, she’s still working, mostly providing perfectly tuned narration and voice overs.
Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp)
The handsome captain seemed pretty intimidating at first, as he whistled commands at his family like a sea captain that he is, but in the end he proved a heart of gold with a vivacious love for music and a true sense of right and wrong.
Highlighted with his defiance of Nazi orders, he began portraying historical figures starting with the fall of the Roman Empire opposite the stunning Sophia Loren. Plummer would continue this trend throughout his career. His film career never stopped for a second, over the next five decades worth of seconds.
In 2019, he was once again compelling and a standout in a stacked cast in the movie Knives Out. Sadly, on February 2021, Plummer died peacefully at his residence in Connecticut aged 91.
Charmian Carr (Liesl Von Trapp)
The eldest of the seven children is this 16 going on 17 year old girl who is curious about love and life and definitely doesn’t need a governess. She shows her skills throughout, highlighted by her and roth’s rain-soaked gazebo performance which is pretty mesmerising.
Carr was 22 and admitted in her autobiography that she was attracted to 35-year-old Plummer who played her father. Plummer would later state that the feeling was mutual but insist that it didn’t get beyond mere flirtation.
Carr is an oddity, she never seriously acted again. Perhaps it’s because neither she nor any of her child co-stars made a penny from the film’s prophets or from the soundtrack, the most successful of all time. However she does insist that the sound of music made her “wealthy spiritually.”
Sadly in 2016, Charmian died from complications of dementia at the age of 73.
Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich Von Trapp)
The second eldest child Hammond was just 14. You’ll surely recognize Hammond. He was also well known for his super role of Spider-Man and Peter Parker in the 70s Amazing Spider-Man series. He hasn’t stopped working since. We last saw him in 2019 with an appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as actor Sam Wanamaker.
Since the mid 80s, he has been living in Sydney Australia with actress Robin Nevin
Heather Menzies (Louisa Von Trapp)
Very mischievous and enjoyed playing tricks like hiding spiders in the previous governess’s bed.
Following the Sound Of Music, she worked in many popular TV shows including multiple episodes of Dragnet, then in the late 70s she got her own show co-starring with Gregory Harrison in Logan’s Run. Unfortunately, it was canceled after one very underrated season. Her final acting role was in 1990 for the TV series American Dreamer.
Read: Coming To America actors who have died.
In her personal life, she married actor Robert Urich in 1975 after meeting on a commercial shoot. After Robert died in 2002, she created a foundation in his name that raises money for cancer research. Sadly she herself died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 68.
Duane Chase (Kurt Von Trapp)
Who could forget his opening line “I’m Kurt, I’m 11. I’m incorrigible.”
Fun fact, the high note and so long farewell was actually sung by the younger sister of Charmian Carr Darlene Carr as that note was beyond Chase’s range. Darlene herself went on to have a very solid acting career. Duane however tested the waters of Hollywood with an episode of The Big Valley in 1966. But he quit acting and studied Geology and eventually joined the United States Forest Service.
Angela Cartwright (Brigitta Von Trapp)
The book smart, independent and brutally honest Brigitta was unlike most of the Von Trapp children in this film, because Angela got her start long before The Sound Of Music. She was cast as the cute little step-daughter on the Danny Thomas show where she would complete 223 episodes that led her right to the Von Trapps.
After closing the book on that chapter, Angela landed probably her most iconic role as Penny Robinson in the hit show Lost In Space. After the incredibly successful 60s and 70s, she married in 1976 and acted sparingly. She has been a photographer for the past 30 years and her work can be found at her studio in LA.
Debbie Turner (Marta Von Trapp)
Quite the girly girl and likes the color pink as she told Maria during filming. Debbie had many loose teeth and when they fell out, they were replaced with false teeth for continuity’s sake. Maybe that turned her off from show business, because similar to Liesl, after Sound Of Music, she stepped away from the limelight.
She still takes part in Sound Of Music reunions but since 1985, she has been living in Minnesota with her four daughters, husband and presumably no governess.
Kym Karath (Gretl Von Trapp)
The youngest of the bunch Kym was adorable, portraying the shy innocent five-year-old girl. Kym continued to act sparsely on TV until 1981, but she had some great guest spots including the Brady Bunch in 1973.
Ultimately, Kym decided to resume her education and move to Paris France to study Art History. To this day, Kym says she is still not fond of water after the scene of The Sound Of Music. What a talented bunch of the Von Trapp children, they had to beat out some tough competition to just become the chosen troop amongst kids who auditioned.
Who was your favourite of the Von Trapps?
