These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things! Behind The Scenes Facts About The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was an international phenomenon and still one of the most quotable and singable musicals to this day. Walk into any theatre and start singing The Sound of Music and you'll find that soon every voice in the place with join you. The hills are truly alive when this music starts playing!

Did you know that the 1965 film held the title of the highest-grossing film of all time? Jump into these and other behind-the-scenes facts about the Austrian hit. Don't worry, there's more than 16 going on 17.

It Was All Based On A True Story

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Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox

We're so used to the story of the von Trapps that it's easy for us to forget that this tale is stranger-than-fiction. That's right, The Sound of Music musical was based off of a book that was based on the real-life experiences of its author.

Maria von Trapp wrote The Story of the Trapp Family Singers based on her own experiences, which inspired the 1956 film The Trapp Family, which in turn inspired the musical. Through the next slides, we will learn the real truth behind the von Trapps and Maria.

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The Story Was A Bestseller The Minute It Hit The Shelves

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Photo Credit: @ClassicMovieHub / Twitter
Photo Credit: @ClassicMovieHub / Twitter
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The Sound of Music was loosely based on Maria von Trapp's memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers that she wrote after her time with the Captain and his 7 children. Talk about something so unique you can't even make up.

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The book was published by J.B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1949. Not confident in her skills as a writer, Maria claimed that she only wrote her story to prove that she had no writing skills. Hopefully she grew more confident as a writer when she heard that her story quickly became a bestseller.

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Straight From The Bestselling Books To Broadway

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Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
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The Sound of Music film was directly inspired by the 1959 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein Broadway musical. These two genius composers are responsible for the play's and film's iconic music. Hammerstein died in 1960, so this holds the title as being the last Hammerstein and Rodgers musical.

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Other Hammerstein and Rodgers musicals include Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and The King And I. The last song he ever wrote was the "Edelweiss" song we remember Julie Andrews performing so well.

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The Film Racked Up A Ton Of Recognition

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Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
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Although The Sound of Music follows from books, film, and musical adaptations, it is by far the most famous and decorated von Trapp isotope. The Sound of Music received 5 Academy Awards, including one for Best Director and Best Picture, but it also received two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress and Best Motion Picture.

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Andrews didn't win the oscar for best actress but she was nominated. With all this recognition, it's safe to say the movie was a clean sweep for the von Trapp family.

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Sound Of Music Beat Gone With The Wind For A Major Honor

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Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
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When you think of classic movies the first two that come to mind are always The Sound of Music and Gone With the Wind - there's just no others that really measure up. We've all seen both at least 100 times each, but did you know that the 1965 musical beat Gone With The Wind for the highest-grossing film of all time?

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The $8.2 million budget film made a whopping box office $286.2 million. That's a nice little investment for a rainy day. The Sound of Music turned 50 in 2015, but it's not showing any signs of slowing down.

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The Real Maria Was Orphaned At A Young Age

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Born on a train, Maria was orphaned and alone by the age of ten. She was then forced to live with and escape from a violent uncle. Despite her early setbacks she forged ahead and graduated from the State Teachers College for Progressive Education in Vienna.

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Because of her tumultuous upbrining, she gravitated towards the Catholic church and enter Nonnberg abbey as a postulant intent on becoming a nun. It was her teaching and religious education that caused her to be selected to teach one of the 7 children at the von Trapp residence.

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The Real Maria Was A Tough Customer

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The real-life Maria was really nothing like the sweet-but-passionate novice Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Maria reportedly was a fiery and driven woman who was angry even on her wedding day. She apparently cursed God and her husband for stopping her dream of becoming a nun.

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But, given Maria's true personal history, who can blame her? She survived as an orphan, an abused child, and as a wife and mother in Austria when it was annexed by Nazi Germany. You'd have to be tough to survive in a world like that.

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She Held The Checkbook In The Family

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Part of being an unshakeable woman is not letting your husband's fiscal habits ruin the family financially. After their marriage, the real-life Maria managed the family's finances and directed the way things were run, while real-life Georg was merely there for moral support.

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Georg transferred his savings from a London bank to a friend-owned Austrian bank during the depression - and this bank inevitably failed and took their savings with it. Maria and Georg buckled down and got creative to survive by firing their servants and renting out rooms in their house.

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They Didn't Have A Seat For Her At Her Own Premiere

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If Hollywood would've pulled a stunt like this today people would be all over Twitter calling for the production company's blood. But this was 1965, and when the film came out Maria wasn't invited to the movie premiere of her own book and story.

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When she asked the producers if she could attend the premiere of a film based on her memoir, they told her no. This was because there apparently weren't any seats left to offer. She was, however, invited to the 1959 musical's opening night.

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Rain, Rain Go Away

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It was cold and rainy when the film crew captured all those beautiful panoramic views of the Alps for The Sound of Music film. Austria is well-known for the relative frequency of thunderstorms, but the weather for this movie shoot was worse than even what could have been expected.

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You Can Bike The Route The Von Trapps Biked Through The Sound of Music

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The biking tour by Maria and all the von Trapp children is one of the most memorable parts of The Sound of Music. Luckily for us, we can live the von Trapp life vicariously now that they've introduced a bike tour through Salzburg Austria that follows the route they took.

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The tour lasts around 3.5 hours so you can spend your whole day walking and riding the streets. You're even allowed to sing if you want. That's not part of the tour but we know you're going to want to anyways.

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Julie Andrews Was A Perfect Fit For The Role

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Julie Andrews showed her demonstrated her singing, acting, and nanny chops in Mary Poppins so well that producers knew immediately that she would be the perfect fit for the nun turned nanny in The Sound of Music.

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Surprisingly, Andrews was hesitant at first to accept the iconic role since she was worried afterwards she'd be typecast as a nanny. Composer Richard Rogers and Director Robert Wise had to work to convince Andrews to play the part and thankfully they did. She's definitely one of our few favorite things about the movie.

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Julie Andrews as Maria

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Julie Andrews will be forever linked to the story of the young governess, Maria. Her pure voice will go down in history as the one that suited the nun-turned-nanny best. She didn't win anything for her voice in the film, but later she would be nominated for a Tony in the Victor/Victoria stage production.

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We all know how elegant Andrews is. She's so majestic that a botanist named an orangey-pink rose after her likeness in 1992 calling it the "Julie Andrews Rose."

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The Real Story Had To Be Shortened For The Screen

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In The Sound of Music, the story condenses the entire storyline into just a few weeksn. The film moves quickly from the initial introduction of Maria through her interactions with the von Trapp family and onto the decision to escape from Austria.

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In reality, Maria and Georg were married for 11 years before they were forced to leave their homeland. They made their way through Italy, England, and finally the United States where they performed and eventually obtained citizenship. This all takes a little longer than they length of a few songs.

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There Were 10 Kids Instead of 7

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In The Sound of Music, Maria becomes the governess for the seven von Trapp children. In reality, there were 7 original von Trapp children but after marrying the Captain and Maria had 3 more kids Rosmarie, Eleonore, and Johannes.

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There may have been any number of reasons to focus on seven instead of ten. Not only would it have added more kids to the mix, but it may have also been seen as a further complication to the story line. It would also be hard on Maria making so many outfits out of those curtains.

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Andrews Was Knocked To The Ground Constantly During This Scene

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The famous The Sound of Music footage that depicts Maria singing and dancing on the mountain slopes made us all want to go outside and frolic. This iconic scene wasn't as joyous to create as it makes us feel though.

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Julie Andrews was repeatedly knocked down by the downdraft of the helicopter as it shot the footage. No matter how many times she stood up and tried to brace herself she was always knocked flat on her back. Thanks to drones today she wouldn't be as sore.

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Christopher Plummer Hated The Movie So Much

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Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
Photo Credit: MovieStills DB / Twentieth Century Fox
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It wasn't as easy as Do-Re-Mi for everyone filming. Christopher Plummer who played Captain Georg von Trapp reportedly found the movie gratingly cheesy. He said that "Because it was so awful and sentimental and gooey you had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some minuscule bit of humor into it."

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Plummer turned to alcohol and food to ease his growing pains, and apparently gained so much weight during filming his costumes had to be refitted. Smile Plumber, at least you're in beautiful Salzburg.

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The Bitter Chris Plummer Was The Perfect Georg

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Chris Plummer played a bit more abrupt of a character than the "real" Georg. The von Trapp family even seemed to take issue with the cold way that Plummer impersonated the von Trapp patriarch. This cold portrayal seemed to stem from his discomfort in the role.

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Plummer reportedly didn't like the role because he felt it detracted from his image as a serious Shakespearian actor. He even told a producer "anyone can write about nuns and children" and have a successful film. Now that's taking your feelings to work with you.

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Julie Andrews And Chris Plummer Really Didn't Like Each Other

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Julie Andrews was said to be an angel on set, but that's exactly what Christopher Plummer didn't like about working with her. He reportedly developed a bit of a crush on her when he watched the My Fair Lady show on Broadway. So he told the media that working with Julie Andrews was like, “getting hit over the head with a Valentine card.”

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Fair enough, it would be hard to be around someone you liked for that long and stay serious. Plummer went further with his jibes though, and called the film “The Sound of Mucus” and “S&M.”

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They Didn't Actually Escape Through The Alps

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True to some a niche Austrian stereotype, the von Trapp family in the film scaled the Alps to escape the encroaching Nazis. However, this escape route really wasn't practical or even doable despite how gorgeous it looks and how good the acoustics were for Julie Andrews' singing.

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Reportedly, the real Maria von Trapp had an issue with this portrayal because if the von Trapps were to traverse the Alps they would've had to walk right past Hitler's summer retreat. For a move this big it's surprising the production team didn't bother to fact check this info.

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The Real Escape Was More Practical

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@SoundofMusic/Twitter
@SoundofMusic/Twitter
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The real escape was much less sensationalized. They left their house, climbed on a train, and left Austria. Even though the circumstances are just as hard as they had to leave everything behind, at least they didn't have a ridiculous walk ahead of them.

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The family had a few strange run-ins before leaving for America. Apparently, in 1938 they ran into Hitler while he was dining at a restaurant. After they abandoned their home, the Nazis turned it into Heinrich Himmler's headquarters.

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The von Trapps Didn't Think Their Lives Were Portrayed Correctly

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It's easy to forget that this famous family had to flee their country and restart in America - their real lives were more practical and gritty than the film portrayed. In a 1998 interview with The New York Times, Johannes von Trapp said, "[i]t's not what my family was about... [We were] about good taste, culture, all these wonderful upper-class standards that people make fun of in movies like Titanic."

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The von Trapp children believed that The Sound of Music simplified everything. They said that "perhaps reality is less glamorous but more interesting than the myth."

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The Von Trapps Really Were A Singing Family

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The real von Trapps settled in Vermont in the 1940s, where Maria and five of her stepdaughters applied for U.S. citizenship. The family made their living running a music camp when they weren't touring as the music group "The Trapp Family Choir" and then later as "The Trapp Family Singers."

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The family toured America, Canada, and even the world for their performances, and even made a series of 78-rpm records in the 1950's. Two of the boys, Rupert and Werner, even served in the U.S. armed forces during WWII.

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The Real Von Trapps Saw None Of The Film's Profits

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Despite the von Trapp family's story captivating and entire nation and their lives being immortalized in several different mediums, none of the actual von Trapps saw a cent of the profits from the film.

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Maria sold the first film rights to German producers and American rights to the story were bought from those German producers. Maria unfortunately and unknowingly sold her own rights to her own story - thus she never got a penny and the von Trapps are remembered as a fictional family.

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These Young Actors Totally Bonded On Set

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Imagine spending weeks filming in the Salzburg Austrian countryside with a group of kids your age. It would be like summer camp except you would have to work once in a while.

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Public fixation on the film has lasted, and now many of the most personal off-beat, off-set moments from the movie are now part of tours in Salzburg, Austria. As we follow the map to the famous spots, we get the best possible sense of what the actors experienced as they were playing their parts for The Sound of Music.

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The Sound of Music Originally Had A Different Title

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The original title of the musical was: The Singing Heart. The working title was fine and definitely fit the storyline's romance-centered plot but we're all glad it was changed in the end. The Sound of Music just rolls off the tongue so nicely.

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Though it sounds a bit corny, the old title perfectly captures the sweet-and-wholesome tone of the film. Especially for a film dealing with family displaced by a gruesome war that many Americans were still alive to remember, a sweet title helps soften the subject matter a little.

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Julie Tells You About Her Favorite Things

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Even if you don't remember anything else from The Sound of Music, you probably remember "My Favorite Things," a song written in 1959, as part of the Rodgers and Hammerstein music score.

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In the musical version of the story, the song is sung in Mother Abbess' office when she sends Maria away. In the film, the song helps to create the perfect scene, as Maria sings the children through a thunderstorm and helps them find peace.

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It's Not Even A Real Austrian Song

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Everyone, including the director, though "Edelweiss" was an old Austrian folk song, but the real story is that Hammerstein wrote the song for Broadway and folk music star Theodore Bikel. Turns out "Edelweiss" would be the last song he ever wrote before his passing as well.

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Robert Wise had to pause shooting at the music festival in Salzburg for several hours while they taught hundreds of Austrian extras the words to the song they thought they already knew. Whoops. Guess Hammerstein really has an ear for the authentic.

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Gretl Nearly Drowned While Filming

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Another of the memorable incidents in The Sound of Music was the capsized rowboat. Although you'd think with a capsize scene someone would've checked that all the stars could swim. But that wasn't a concern apparently.

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The film's youngest star Kym Karath who played Gretl wasn't able to swim while she was continually dumped into water she could've easily drowned in. Over the course of filming, she swallowed a lot of water which she ended up vomiting up on castmate Heather Menzies. Next time Maria should've made her a lifejacket out of those curtains.

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These Puppets Were Donated After The Filming

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The "Lonely Goatherd" puppetry scene is another memorable part of The Sound of Music. Those slacked jawed and eye-rolling sheep hopefully aren't the ones you'll be counting before bed because they'll give you some serious nightmares.

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Bill Baird designed the puppets and when he retired from puppet making he donated them to the Macnider Art Museum in Mason City. These hand-crafted puppets are just a small portion of the over 600 puppets Baird donated to the museum.

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Lord of The Flies Star Nicholas Hammond Played Friedrich

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Not only was Christopher Plummer a newcomer to the big screen when he played Captain von Trapp, but so was rising star Nicholas Hammond who played Freiderich. Previously, Hammond had played Robert in Lord of The Flies who gets mistaken for a pig and almost eaten. Luckily here there were no pig roast scenes.

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Nicholas Hammond went on to star as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man series on CBS, The Brady Bunch, General Hospital, and Hawaii Five-O. Hammond's career in film and television lasted almost a whopping 5 decades.

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The Late Great Heather Menzies Urich as Louisa

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You know that Canadian actress Heather Menzies Urich nailed the role of the sweet and outspoken Lousia von Trapp, but what you may not know is that she also played Jessica in Logan's Run, starred in Endangered Species (1982), Piranha (1978), How Sweet It Is! (1968), The Love Boat, Captain America, T.J. Hooker, Bonanza, and Dragnet.

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Urich was also a charitable advocate for cancer research and support right up until her death in 2017 after her 68th birthday. Urich was just as sweet and considerate as The Sound of Music character she played.

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Angela Cartwright as Brigitta Got Lost In Space After The Sound Of Music

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Angela Cartwright is an English-born American actress who played Brigitta von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Like her many castmates, Angela also went on to have a successful career after the movie and she traded her von Trapp garbs for a spacesuit.

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Cartwright played Penny Robinson in Lost in Space, appeared in My Three Sons, Adam-12, and The Love-Boat. Luckily all the strange von Trapp wardrobes prepared her for the bright orange and green garish ensembles she would wear on the futuristic Lost in Space set.

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Debbie Turner Returned To Her Education After Playing Marta

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Debbie Turner seemed to know exactly what she wanted even as a young child. Admirably, even though she starred as Marta von Trapp as a child, she wasn't attracted to the glitz and glamor of Hollywood and she returned to school after her film debut.

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Turner is a successful interior design mogul who launched and owns her own event and floral design company: Debbie Turner Originals. She's made her rounds on Oprah since her first role but largely prefers to stay out of the spotlight.

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The Littlest Von Trapp Kym Karath Has Grown Up Since Playing Gretl

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Anthea Kym Karath has been on the big screen since the tender age of 3, making her role as Grelt when she was 5 in The Sound of Music her 2nd role. She got her start alongside Henry Fonda and Veronica Cartright in Spencer's Mountain.

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Since the film Karath has ppeared on Family Affair, The Brady Bunch, Lost in Space, as well as All My Children, and Lassie. Apparently, after the boat scene in the movie Karath says she still stays away from water.

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Duane Chase Used To Roam The Hills As Kurt But Now He Studies Them

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Duane Chase played Kurt von Trapp on The Sound of Music and made his departure from the big screen quickly after. Immediately following his highschool graduation, Chase joined the United States Forest Service where he found a love for the outdoors.

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After graduating from university with multiple degrees in geology, Chase went on to become a software engineer for geologists and geophysicists. Long gone are his days of yodelling through the mountains as now he appreciates them from a scientific perspective.

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Charmian Carr as Liesl Is No Longer 16 Going On 17

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Charmian Carr is best known for her portrayal as the eldest daughter, Liesl von Trapp, in The Sound of Music. She was a natural for the role, as before being cast at the age of 21 she had never before taken an acting or singing lesson and instead played basketball and volleyball for her highschool.

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Carr was a trooper when filming her iconic 16 going on 17 scene. Costume designers had forgotten to put slip pads on the bottom of her shoes and she ended up twisting her ankle as a result. She completed the scene despite the pain.

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Carr Lived A Full Life

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Charmian Carr passed away on September 17, 2016 at the age of 73 from a rare form of dementia. She was the first prominent member of The Sound of Music cast to pass away.

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Up until her passing Carr led a full life as a mother to daughters Jennifer and Emily, and grandmother to Emma and Derek. After The Sound of Music Carr went onto star opposite Psycho stat Anthony Perkins in Evening Primrose. She left showbusiness shortly after to marry dentist Jay Brent and started her own interior design firm.

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Carrie Underwood Played Maria In The 2013 Television Remake

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2013 was hotly approaching the 50th anniversary of the iconic 1965 film, so producers thought it would be a perfect time to resurrect the film with Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp. They thought. The NBC television special received a 44% on rotten tomatoes and a wary critical glance.

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Julie Andrews has some big shoes to fill and Carrie Underwood did her best, but some things just aren't meant to be remade. Just remember the saying, if it ain't a cat scratch or a dog bite don't fix it.

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Lady Gaga's Touching Tribute For The 50th Anniversary

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At the 87th Oscars in 2015, Lady Gaga performed her renditions of “The Hills Are Alive,” “My Favorite Things,” “Edelweiss” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain" to honor the film's 50th anniversary. The performance got Julie Andrews' stamp of approval who said, “it really warmed my heart, it really did.”

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Not everyone was as receptive as The Sound of Music legend, like Stephan Sondheim, genius composer for Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd. Sondheim said the performance, "was ridiculous, as it would be from any singer who treats that music in semi-operatic style. She had no relationship to what she was singing."