Following the enormous success of the stage musical "Sound of Music" (written and composed by Rogers and Hammerstein - the work was performed on Broadway almost 1500 times, won 6 Tony awards and sold more than 3 million records), Robert Wise produced and directed the film of the same name.
In 1965 the film was nominated for 10 Oscars and actually won 5: best film, best director, best sound recording, best script and best musical adaption.
For Julie Andrews, who took the leading role, the film heralded the start of an incomparable international film career. She herself once said in an interview that she considered it an honour to have been involved in a film which had brought so much happiness to so many people.
Eleanor Parker, too, who played the baroness, remembers the film to this day and is proud to have acted in it.
The child performers, however, untrained amateurs every one, did not take up stage careers later. All seven of them have entered ordinary professions and now live all over the world. The contact between them is, nevertheless, strong to this day and Charmian Carr, who played Liesl, the eldest daughter in the film, once said "Trapp children" still feel like one big family.
Robert Wise once said, that it was by no means clear to the producers at the start, that the film would be such a great success. In reality the film's ultimate popularity surprised everyone and Robert Wise sees this success as stemming from various factors: the film tells a true story, a moving family story which appeals to many people, the lovely city of Salzburg provided an unforgettable backdrop and the really outstanding actors and actresses did the rest.
The film itself is based on a true story. Born in Vienna, Maria von Kutschera was living as a novice candidate at the Benedictine Convent on Nonnberg in Salzburg when she was sent by her Mother Superior as a governess to the househould of Baron Georg von Trapp to look after his seven children, left motherless after the death of his wife. Shortly afterwards Maria became the Baron's wife and in the early 30's she founded a family choir with which she undertook frequent public performances whilst they remained in Austria.
After fleeing the country on Hitler's annexation of Austria in 1938, the family had no income other than that drawn from their musical performances. Their success in the USA, however, proved sufficient to enable them to settle there and, in 1941, to purchase a farm in Stowe,Vermont, which ultimately became the Trapp Family Lodge.Today the Trapp Family Lodge is a flourishing hotel.
You can also visit the Trapp Family Lodge on the web, just have a look.
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