Charmian Carr dead: ‘Sound of Music’ actress who played Liesl von Trapp was 73

Charmian Carr

Charmian Carr played Liesl von Trapp in the 1965 movie musical “The Sound of Music.”

LOS ANGELES — Charmian Carr will always be 16 going on 17 for fans of “The Sound of Music.” In the 1965 movie adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, she played the rebellious Liesl von Trapp, eldest daughter of a privileged Austrian clan of seven children living under the strictures of their militaristic father, played by Christopher Plummer.

Years later, Carr revealed that she harbored a crush not on the actor who played Rolfe, her adolescent paramour, but on Plummer, who played her on-screen father. “I had a huge crush on him,” the actress recalled in 2010 during an interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” “He was so perfect, and he spoke with this perfect British accent.”

She also penned two books about her experience on the movie, “Forever Liesl” in 2000 and “Letters to Liesl” the following year.

“When people look at me and see Liesl, I believe they are looking into a mirror,” she wrote in the 2000 book. “If the film has touched them in some way, it is because it represents the world as they want it to be. If it makes them feel love or happiness or hope, it is because they have these feelings inside them.”

Carr was born Charmian Anne Farnon in Chicago in 1942 and moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was 13. (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 once recalled that her first scene on the lengthy shoot was when Liesl sneaks into the house late at night and attempts to sneak past a praying Maria. She missed two cues in part, she said, because a thunderous sound effect prevented her from hearing her co-star.

The actress, who was divorced, is survived by two daughters, Jennifer and Emily, four siblings and four grandchildren.