‘The Sound of Music’ Star Angela Cartwright Reveals Secrets From the Set: ‘We Had a Total Blast’

On location in Austria, rain held up the shooting of The Sound of Music for days. “It wasn’t supposed to take as long as it did,” Angela Cartwright, who played Brigitta von Trapp, exclusively tells Closer. “But to be with a group of kids — I became fast friends with Heather Menzies (Louisa) — we had a total blast.”

The beloved film, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, used locations in Salzburg and the Bavarian Alps as well as an L.A. soundstage to bring the von Trapp family’s odyssey to vivid life. The opening scene of Julie Andrews’ Maria singing on a mountaintop presented a huge challenge.

Each time the helicopter filming Julie circled back to its starting position, she was knocked off her feet by the rotor’s downdraft. “We did this about six or seven times, and I was spitting dirt and hay, and I kept saying, ‘Couldn’t you take a wider circle around?’” she said on The Tonight Show.

Julie Andrews and Other ‘The Sound of Music’ Stars Took Risks During Filming

Julie wasn’t the only actor risking it all. Kym Karath, who played little Gretl, was only 5 and couldn’t swim when she had to film a scene where she tumbles off a canoe. An assistant director told Julie to keep a close eye on her. “I had to swim like mad to get to her, the poor kid,” she told Graham Norton. “She went under at least twice, came up and then threw up!”

Charmian Carr, the actress who played Liesl, also had an accident. She slipped while leaping across the benches in the gazebo during the “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” dance number because the costume department had forgotten to put rubber soles on her shoes. She put her foot through a glass pane but escaped with a sprained ankle. Charmian finished the scene wearing a makeup-covered bandage and the crew gave her a standing ovation.