The Sound of Music helped launch Julie Andrews’ career into the stratosphere, but sadly its child stars didn’t all have the same fate.

The von Trapp children couldn’t escape tragic fates (Image: Getty)

Legendary Hollywood musical The Sound of Music introduced the world to the von Trapp family, and was instrumental in launching Julie Andrews’ career into the stratosphere. The Mary Poppins actress played Maria in the 1965 musical, alongside Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg. With 10 von Trapp children in total, it’s sadly no wonder some of the cast couldn’t escape tragic fates.

For actress Heather Menzies, who played Louisa von Trapp when she was just 14 years old, it was a brain cancer battle and the death of her husband that haunted her. After The Sound of Music, she landed roles in everything from Logan’s Run to Captain America.

She was married twice – first to John Cluett until their divorce in 1973, and then to Robert Urich from 1975 until his death in 2002.

Robert died from a rare form of cancer after adopting three children with Heather, and after his death she launched the Robert Urich Foundation to raise money for cancer research.

In 2017, Heather herself was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She died a month after her diagnosis at the age of just 68, surrounded by her family.

Charmian Carr played the eldest von Trapp daughter Liesl in the hit film, but in her real life, she was struggling behind the scenes.

She experienced “several depressed years” after finishing the film, admitting she “trusted nobody, not knowing if people liked me or wanted to be Liesl’s friend.” Things got worse when she became Michael Jackson’s interior designer, and she suffered panic attacks and cold sweats, eventually leading to a nervous breakdown, due to his odd habits.

Julie Andrews found fame in the iconic musical (Image: Getty)

Though Carr married dentist Jay Brent in 1967, she embarked on an affair with her childhood sweetheart after they reunited at a school reunion, and she and Brent divorced in 1991.

Charmian sadly died at the age of 73 in 2016, from complications from frontotemporal dementia. The Sound of Music was her only major film role.

It isn’t just after the film that stars struggled in real life – while filming the series, one child star developed a lifelong phobia of water. Just five years old when she played Gretl von Trapp, Kym Karath couldn’t swim when she was filming the boat scene in which the children fall into the water.

Julie Andrews explained: “The assistant director waded rather urgently through the water towards me and whispered, ‘The little one can’t swim. We’d be most grateful if you could get to her as quickly as possible once you’re in the water.’

One of the child stars nearly drowned during filming (Image: Getty)

“In the second take, the boat rocked so violently that I went over the back as Kim went over the front. I have never swum so fast in my life.

“I could see the poor child flailing away and going under at least twice. Crew members dove into the water to help save her, and mercifully we got there in time.”

Debbie Turner played Marta von Trapp in the film, but faded into relative obscurity after the huge success. Though she tried valiantly to continue her acting career, Debbie eventually settled into a career as a floral designer for events.

She said: “I’d go in interviews and they’d go ‘Oh, so you were in The Sound of Music?’ And then it’s like, I don’t know if I got put on a pedestal or I got thrown out the side – I just didn’t get jobs.”