Actress Charmian Carr has died at the age of 73-years-old from complications of a rare form of dementia. Carr was most well known for her role of 16-year-old Liesl Von Trapp, the oldest of the Von Trapp children, in the 1965 classic musical ‘The Sound of Music.’ Carr was born Charmian Farnon, but changed her last name to Carr after director Robert Wise suggested that a shorter last name would serve her better in a career as an actress and singer. Carr was studying at San Fernando Valley State College when her mother signed her up to audition for the role.
Carr would later write two books about her experience playing Liesl and how the role would affect her for the rest of her life. “I can’t imagine my life any other way, I’ve been Liesl for so long that I don’t know where Charmian ends and Liesl begins,” Carr said in an interview while on the red carpet celebrating a reunion of the cast.
20th Century Fox wrote in a tweet, “The Sound of Music losta beloved member of the family w/ the pasing of Charmian Carr. She will be forever missed.
Remember Carr with one of the most iconic scenes in film history, the Gazebo duet between Rolf and Liesl ‘Sixteen Going On Seventeen.’