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Sound of Music ’16 Going on 17′ dementia death at 73

Charmian Carr, known for her role as Liesl Von Trapp in the classic film The Sound of Music died on Saturday, September 17.

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After leaving the film industry, she started a design company called Charmian Carr Design in California. She was born Charmian Farnon in 1942 in IL, and she moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was 10.

Kym Karath, who played Gretl von Trapp in the film said, “She has been like a sister throughout my life”.

Ms. Carr leaves four siblings, two children, and four grandchildren.

Carr was a college student when she auditioned for the 1965 hit, in which she memorable performed the song Sixteen Going on Seventeen. “After acting in “The Sound of Music”, she married and then made a decision to leave the movie business and raise her two children, Jennifer and Emily”, Hughes wrote on the website.

After “The Sound of Music”, Carr starred opposite Anthony Perkins in a Stephen Sondheim television musical, “Evening Primrose”. They can dance and talk back to the screen. (At director Robert Wise’s suggestion, she later changed her last name.) Show business ran strong in her family: “Her mother, Rita, was a vaudeville actress, while her father, Brian, was a musician and orchestra leader”. She worked for clients including Michael Jackson and Sound of Music screenwriter, Ernest Lehman.

Charmian, who played Liesl von Trapp, passed away following a battle with dementia, reports say.

Ted Chapin, president of Rodgers and Hammerstein, also contributed a statement in her memory and honor. She wrote two books about her experiences, Forever Leisl and Letters to Leisl.

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The real life Liesl, Agathe von Trapp, who was the oldest daughter of the Austrian family that inspired the film passed away in 2010 aged 97. “She will be forever missed”, read a post from the official Twitter handle of the studio.

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