When The Sound of Music premiered on March 2, 1965, it instantly captured the hearts of so many people around the world. Sixty years later, those of us who grew up with the movie and adore it still can’t get enough.
The film was so successful, in fact, that it earned two Golden Globe Awards and five Academy Awards, and the iconic soundtrack hit number one on the Billboard charts. Here’s another fun fact you might not know about The Sound of Music: it spent a whopping four years in theaters given how well received and beloved it was. (Four years!)
From September 12-17, in honor of the movie’s 60th anniversary, it was re-released in select theaters across the United States after being remastered in 4k. As someone who has held a special place for the film in my heart since I was 5 years old, I can tell you that seeing it on the big screen — the way it was meant to be seen — was an experience like no other.
A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with Angela Cartwright, who played Brigitta Von Trapp, and while reflecting on what it was like making the movie, she revealed that she’s still close to her other Von Trapp children co-stars.
She explained, “We have stayed in touch, all of us, through everything. And you know, there have been marriages, and births, and deaths, and when we come together, we are like a family. We call ourselves the ‘Non-Trapps,’ because we literally pick up where we left off, and we all love each other.”
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Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Cartwright one more time, along with Debbie Turner (Marta), Kym Karath (Gretl), and Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich). The four of them shared fond memories of making an incredible movie that would become so much bigger and more significant than they ever would’ve dreamed when they were cast as the Von Trapp kids.
Hammond echoed Cartwright’s sentiments of how close the actors still are, and he also touched on taking on a “big brother” sort of role to the rest of the group, given that he played Friedrich, the second eldest of the Von Trapp children.
He explained, “You know, we’ve each got kind of our relationship with each other. I mean, very much like a real family. When Charmain Carr, playing Liesl was alive, she was clearly the sort of leader of the pack. And we all turned to Charmain. She was older than us, you know, and we really looked upon her as kind of a mentor.”
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Hammond continued, “But now that Charmain’s passed away, and even before she passed away, I’ve certainly taken on that role. Not necessarily one that I always have asked for, but I think they do look to me to do that.”
Working with Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews
The actors reflected on what it was like to work with Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews, two of the most significant people in movie history.
Of Plummer, Cartwright notes, “He has so many nuances in this movie, that when you see it in 4k, I’ll bet you’ll pick up a lot more moments that he has. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized he was such a gorgeous human being, but he has this uncanny way of being stern like a captain, but you could tell he loved the kids, and you could tell he didn’t have a clue what to do with them.”
Turner gave fun details on the insight the cast had into Mary Poppins before it even came out. She said, “Julie Andrews taught us to say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’… backwards!” She then pointed to Cartwright, who not only remembered how to say it backwards, but nailed it!
Hammond touched on the significant example Andrews set for him and the rest of the cast while working, saying, “The example she set, was as the star of a film, of how to behave when you are a star, in the sense that she worked harder than anyone else. She got there earlier, she stayed late, she never complained, she was always ready, she was always positive. And she always was ready to kind of reach out to anybody else who she felt might
benefit from a bit of her attention.”
He also recalls a fun, softer side of working with Plummer.
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“He could be very, very funny, and he had amusing stories to tell. He would do accents. Of course, he was a great piano player. And so, back at the hotel, or wherever he’d get behind the piano, he’d play, and he’d have a glass of brandy, and he was great company to be with.”
He continues, “It’s just that he kept himself to himself because his role in the film was almost the opposite of Julie’s role, in the sense, as far as the children were concerned. But he could be lovely, and he could be a lot of fun, and he was. And I just had enormous respect for him as an actor, right to the end of his career.”
Karath then noted a takeaway she took from working with not only Andrews and Plummer, but other actors while she was a child. She remembers “working with people who were consummate professionals… who never complained and always did their work perfectly. She says, “That’s certainly stuck as one of those lessons, which I think the best lessons are always by example.”
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Favorite Cast Scenes From ‘The Sound of Music’
In reflecting on their favorite scenes from the film, Karath fittingly noted how much she loved making the “My Favorite Things” scene. She said, “It’s our first scene that we filmed, and it always puts a smile on my face. I always watch a different thing every time I look at it. Mostly, I focus on Debbie and I looking very adoringly at Julie. But then I look at all the little activities that are going on with everyone… and it’s Duane’s face, and Nicky’s face, and Angela’s face, and Heather, with her beautiful smile. That scene always delights me.”
Turner also mentioned the puppet show scene as one she remembers so fondly, saying, “We had lots of fun. We played with those puppets even when we weren’t supposed to be playing with them.”
Of the scene, Cartwright added, “I was the little girl goatherd, and we did practice. The older kids were able to work the puppets, and Debbie and Kym did the side backdrops. We knew how to do those puppets and marionettes.”
Cartwright adds, “We had some great adventures. I think we really enjoyed being together.” She also recalled a slight mishap in the famous “steps” scene while singing “Do Re Mi.” She explains, “There were a couple of mishaps steps wise going up those steps at the end of ‘Do Re Mi.'” There’s someone who stepped back!””
Karath explains, “They made it simple for me. I was 5, and the steps seemed big, so they were going to have be go backwards, but then they just didn’t and had me go forwards.”
Cartwright also notes, “We did so much practice and we knew the routines inside and out, but we were kids, and weren’t perfect. But maybe that was the best take, and it kind of showed our human side.”
Hammond’s favorite scene in the film is particularly poignant. He explained:
“The most emotionally impactful scene is the scene where we’re singing The Sound of Music to the Baroness, and our father comes in and joins us. It was a very, very moving moment for all of us to do that. As characters in the story, it was the first time our father had shown warmth, and kindness, and love towards us… But also, as the actors, it was a very emotional moment, because that was the last scene we ever filmed.
He continued, “The minute we finish that scene, when Robert Wise, the director, said, cut, print, it was over. The movie was over. We were done. And what had been almost a year of kind of this dream, fantasy job with these extraordinary people. So… It was hugely emotional.”
Of course, The Sound of Music has countless memorable scenes, but there’s another one in particular I could help but ask Hammond about. It was never explained in the film or shown on screen, but I’d always wondered how Gretl’s finger got caught in Friedrich’s teeth!
He laughed and said, “Congratulations to you… no one has ever asked me that before, and it’s not easy to achieve that!”
He went on to explain, “I think in my mind, I always assumed we were playing some kind of a game… and I was pretending to be some kind of, like, a lion, or a tiger, or a monster, and, was going snap, snap, snap at her, and somehow, she stuck her hand out, and it happened by accident.”
Hammond continued, “I love Gretel, and I love Kim Karath, who played Gretel, and I would have never in a million years done that on purpose. Friedrich was impossible, as he self-declares when you first meet him. But underneath, he’s not a bad boy. All he wants to do is be like his father, and he just wants to be a man. But he certainly would have been very kind to his little sister. So, I put it down to a playroom accident.”
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The Magic of ‘The Sound of Music’ Lives on for Future Generations
Beginning September 23, The Sound of Music is available worldwide in 4K Ultra HD Digital & Blu-ray disc. The special edition of the movie features remastered sound, restored visuals, and bonus content, so don’t miss out, especially if you didn’t have the chance to catch it on the big screen.
The magic of this incredible movie should always be celebrated, and the core message at the heart of the film is one we should all be mindful of.
I believe Hammond said it best when asked what Friedrich would say if he could speak to today’s audience about the 60th anniversary of the film. He so perfectly stated:
“I think he [Friedrich] would say, ‘Please pay attention to the way my family behaved when they were in danger… And then when they faced a moral choice. And when they had to choose between good and evil. And I hope everyone watching this will be inspired to have the strength that my family had, and that my father… and Fraulein Maria, my new stepmother… the strength they had to save us children from a dark world, and take us into the new world of light and brightness and opportunity.'”
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