Free Republic

'The Sound of Music,' was based loosely on a 1949 book by Maria von Trapp. Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, had seven children.Rosmarie Trapp, whose Austrian family the von Trapps was made famous in the musical and beloved movie The Sound of Music, has died. She died Friday at the age of 93 at a nursing home in Morrisville, Vermont, Trapp Family Lodge announced. Her brother Johannes is president of the Stowe resort. Rosmarie was the first daughter of Austrian naval Capt. Georg von Trapp and Maria von Trapp, and a younger half-sibling to...

Heather Menzies-Urich, who played Louisa Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, has died aged 68. Her death was announced by the estate of the musical's creators, Rodgers & Hammerstein, on Monday. She was diagnosed with brain cancer four weeks ago and died on Christmas Eve, news site TMZ quoted her son Ryan as saying. "She was an actress, a ballerina and loved living her life to the fullest," he told TMZ. Born Heather Menzies in Toronto, she was 15 when the musical film was released in 1965. It went on to win 10 Oscars, including best picture. She played...

When it was released 50 years ago, The Sound of Music became one of the most successful films of all time. It was based on the true story of the von Trapp family (above) - but what did they think of it and was their life really like it was portrayed in the movie? "Everyone thinks the Sound of Music was exactly the way things happened, and of course it wasn't because there had to be artistic licence," says Johannes von Trapp. He is the youngest son of Georg and Maria - the decorated naval commander and singing nun turned...

Earlier this year, an event happened that did not receive wide notice. The last of the Von Trapp Family Singers, the last of the children—the real ones—died. Her name was Maria—not to be confused with the lady played by Julie Andrews, Maria Augusta Trapp, who died in 1987. Maria Von Trapp’s death in February 2014 marks the end of an era. The Sound of Music deserves its accolades as the Movie of the Year (1965) and one of the finest films ever made. Even my one-year-old granddaughter is mesmerized by the puppet scene. As a film it is an icon....

Earlier this year, an event happened that did not receive wide notice. The last of the Von Trapp Family Singers, the last of the children---the real ones---died. Her name was Maria---not to be confused with the lady played by Julie Andrews, Maria Augusta Trapp, who died in 1987. Maria Von Trapp’s death in February 2014 marks the end of an era. The Sound of Music deserves its accolades as the Movie of the Year (1965) and one of the finest films ever made. Even my one-year-old granddaughter is mesmerized by the puppet scene. As a film it is an icon....

Maria von Trapp, whose family's story was told in The Sound of Music, has died. She was the last surviving member of the musical family of seven brothers and sisters and passed away in her sleep at home in Vermont at the age of 99 on Tuesday, PEOPLE confirms. Von Trapp, who was the second-eldest daughter, and her family fled their home in Austria to escape from the Nazis in the 1930s and eventually ended up in the U.S., where their story inspired a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical and the popular 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews.

This is from the Julie Andrews Hour in 1972-73. Show at the link.. . Just in case you tire of some of the other holiday season fare....

CNN) -- The oldest daughter of the Austrian family portrayed in the 1965 film "The Sound of Music" died of heart failure Tuesday, a friend confirmed. Agathe von Trapp, 97, was in a Gilchrist Hospice in Towson, Maryland, when she died, her friend Mary Louise Kane told CNN Thursday. She fell ill November 9 and was moved on December 2 to the Gilchrist Hospice, said Kane, who ran a kindergarten with von Trapp in Glyndon, Maryland. The 16-year-old Liesl von Trapp character in the movie was based on Agathe, but the writer and director took great artistic license with the...

<p>HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Agathe von Trapp, a member of the musical family whose escape from Nazi-occupied Austria was the basis for "The Sound of Music," has died, a longtime friend said Wednesday.</p> <p>Von Trapp, 97, died Tuesday at a hospice in the Baltimore suburb of Towson after suffering congestive heart failure in November, said Mary Louise Kane. Kane and von Trapp lived together for five decades and ran a kindergarten at the Sacred Heart Catholic parish in nearby Glyndon until 1993.</p>

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The movie cast of "The Sound of Music" are reuniting for the first time in 45 years, with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer joining their seven fictional children in an October appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV talk show, producers said on Monday. Andrews, Plummer, Charmian Carr (Liesl), and the actors who played the six other von Trapp family children will talk about making the 1965 Oscar-winning movie and their lives since it went on to become one of the most popular movie musicals ever. The reunion will be broadcast on October 29 on "The Oprah Winfrey...

Usually around this time of year the Sound of Music comes on television. I don't know how many times I've seen it. This year I have a special affinity for Captain von Trapp. He was so disgusted, so alienated, so melancholy as he watched helplessly as the Austria he knew and loved so much succumb to the New Order of the Third Reich. Yes, I can relate this. I feel much the same way about my own country these days.

SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) - Maria von Trapp has taken a trip down memory lane to see her old family home just before it opens as a new hotel. Staying in the house for the first time since the von Trapps fled the Nazi regime in the late 1930s has been a deeply moving experience for the second-eldest daughter of Baron von Trapp, whose story was made famous by the "Sound of Music" film. "Our whole life is in here, in this house," the 94-year-old told Reuters in an interview. "Especially here in the stairwell, where we always used to slide...

VIENNA, Austria (May 19) -- The hills are alive ... with the sound of protest. Plans to run a hotel out of a former home of the von Trapp family immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music" have triggered fierce resistance from neighbors who fear tourists will tie up traffic and make a nuisance of themselves. "We will fight this with all means at our disposal," said Andreas Braunbruck, who lives near the Villa Trapp in a neighborhood of Salzburg already teeming with "Sound of Music" tourists seeking a glimpse of the house. "Buses and cars are constantly in...

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The Nazis are back in Vienna - at least on stage. But this time there's no doubt that they're the bad guys. The latest look at the country's relationship to Hitler is through the melodic looking glass of "The Sound of Music" - the first full staging in Austria of a musical beloved the world over but virtually unknown in the nation it portrays. After years of denial, official Austria has turned in the past two decades from depicting itself as a victim of Adolf Hitler to acknowledging its key role in the Holocaust. But some...

They rode a bullet train in Japan, held rare New Zealand kiwi birds in their laps and learned how to write their names in Korean this year. They've also performed well over 100 concerts around the world over the past 24 months. It's been a whirlwind year for the four von Trapp children of Kalispell. They arrived home today and will close out the year with a Christmas show at Majestic Valley Arena on Tuesday. "My head is still spinning. It's been an amazing year," said Annie von Trapp, mother of the kids, who are captivating audiences everywhere with the...