The Cast Of The Sound Of Music: Where Are They Now?

Character: Maria von Trapp

Julie Andrews, the iconic voice of Mary Poppins and Maria in The Sound of Music, is currently 80 going on 81. She’s an accomplished English film and stage actress, a singer, a theatre director, an author and a dancer. Over the years Julie Andrews has starred in many roles and earned many awards. 

This year Andrews created the preschool television series Julie’s Greenroom with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton and Judy Rothman. She will be joined by her assistant Gus (Giullian Yao Gioiello) and “Greenies,” a cast of original puppets built by The Jim Henson Company. The show is set to hit our screens in 2017 on Netflix.

Character: Captain George von Trapp

Christopher Plummer, 86, is working on a new film titled The Exception by David Leveaux derived from Alan Judd’s well-regarded novel The Kaiser’s Last Kiss.

The Exception is set around the last years of Wilhelm (Plummer) and is a story of subterfuge and espionage, all of which comes to a head with a visit from Heinrich Himmler (Eddie Marsan), head of the SS.

Character: Liesl von Trapp

Chairman Carr died this year on September 17th, aged 73. She was an American actress and singer best known for her role as Liesl, the eldest Von Trapp daughter in the film version of The Sound of Music. In addition to some national commercial campaigns, Carr has made a career out of her ‘Sound of Music’ experiences, authoring two books (‘Forever Liesl’ and ‘Letters to Liesl’), hosting ‘Sound of Music’ segments on musical retrospectives and performing her signature song at various events.

When Carr married a dentist, Jay Brent, she made the decision to leave show business. She and Jay had two daughters, Jennifer and Emily. She became the grandmother of two grandchildren: Emma and Derek and unfortunately died from complications related to dementia.

Character: Gretl von Trapp

58-year-old Kym Karath is an American actress best known for her role as Gretl, the youngest of the von Trapp children in The Sound of Music. After the musical, Karath popped up on several television shows in the 60s, 70s and 80s, from ‘Peyton Place’ and ‘The Brady Bunch’ to ‘All My Children.’

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband (whom she met in Paris, where she modeled and studied art history) and son and remains close to her ‘Sound of Music’ co-stars: “Big sister” Heather Menzies (Louisa) is her son’s godmother. Karath is said to be currently working on several new upcoming films, although there are no firm plans in the pipeline.

Character: Louisa von Trapp

66-year-old Heather Menzies is a mum and grandmother now, with a family of her own, but she’s never lost touch with her famous film family and she says they’re all still as close as when Julie Andrews was raising them.

She is an ovarian cancer survivor and currently resides in Los Angeles with her three children while working for the Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Character: Brigitta von Trapp

Angela Cartwright, the cheeky brunette Brigitta is now 64 years of age. After ‘The Sound of Music,’ Cartwright went on to play the middle daughter, Penny Robinson, on the CBS sci-fi show ‘Lost in Space’ from 1965-68 and later starred in more than a dozen other television series.

She has been a professional photographer and author for more than 30 years and comes from a showbiz family. Her older sister Veronica Cartwright is a character actress who’s amassed more than 120 acting credits.

Character: Marta von Trapp

Marta was the second-youngest von Trapp played by 60-year-old Debbie Turner. Turner had a successful career in print and television commercials as a young girl, before leaving Hollywood to concentrate on her studies and skiing, which she pursued in college and professionally after graduation.

As a lifelong lover of flowers, Turner became a well-known floral designer and runs a flower-arrangement studio. She now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their four daughters.

Character: Friedrich von Trapp

Hammond, 67, one of the few kids in the film who had prior acting experience before landing the von Trapp role, played the second-oldest of the children. He landed the role of Spiderman on US television before moving to Sydney, where he married Australian actress and former director of the Sydney Theatre Company Robyn Nevin. 

Character: Kurt von Trapp

As the young Kurt, Chase played a practical joke on Maria but was quickly won over by the singing governess. After a small stint on television series ‘The Big Valley’ in 1966, Chase left the industry to study geology at the University of California Santa Barbara, eventually earning his master’s degree in the subject from the University of Alabama.

He is now 65 and lives in Seattle with his wife where he works as a computer-software designer specializing in geophysics and geology.