Yes, one of the original von Trapp children is still alive: Johannes von Trapp, born in 1939. As the youngest child of Captain von Trapp and his second wife, Maria, he was not portrayed in The Sound of Music movie, which only featured the first seven children. Johannes has helped run the family's resort in Stowe, Vermont.
All of the original seven Trapp children had died by 2014, while only one of the later three children born to Georg and Maria, Johannes, is alive as of October 2025. Eleonore "Lorli" von Trapp Campbell died on 17 October 2021, and Rosmarie died on 13 May 2022.
However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after." They married at Nonnberg Abbey on 26 November 1927 and had three children together: Rosmarie (1929–2022), Eleonore ("Lorli") (1931–2021) and Johannes (born 1939).
Are all the children from Sound of Music still alive?
Of the original seven child actors in The Sound of Music, five are still alive as of early 2026: Angela Cartwright (Brigitta), Duane Chase (Kurt), Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich), Kym Karath (Gretl), and Debbie Turner (Marta), while Charmian Carr (Liesl) and Heather Menzies (Louisa) have passed away. There's also Johannes von Trapp, the youngest of the real von Trapp children (not in the film), who is the last living member of the actual family as of late 2025.
Yes, in The Sound of Music, the butler, Franz, betrays the Von Trapp family by siding with the Nazis and facilitating their discovery during their escape, though the family hoped he and the other staff could claim deniability by not telling them. While the real butler wasn't directly involved in the betrayal, the fictional character Franz serves as a minor antagonist, symbolizing the household staff aligning with the rising Nazi regime after the Captain refused to join.
The Real Maria Von Trapp's Story Was Much Darker Than The Movie
Did the Von Trapps lose all their money?
Yes, the von Trapp family lost most of their fortune during the Great Depression when their Austrian bank failed in the early 1930s, forcing them to dismiss staff and take in boarders, which led to their musical hobby becoming a profession to earn money. They arrived in the U.S. with little money and built their wealth back through touring as the "Trapp Family Singers", eventually establishing their famous lodge in Vermont.
Hedwig (1917-1972): Hedwig von Trapp had chronic asthma throughout her life. After the family stopped touring, she worked and lived in Oahu, Hawaii, teaching music at St Anthony's School. She later moved to Zell am See, Austria, to teach music where she passed away at the early age of 55.
The Sound of Music is loosely based on the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. However, many details were altered or dramatized for the movie. The real family had ten children – with fictional names and personalities. Georg von Trapp was not a strict patriarch, but a kind and musical father.
His wife died in 1922 of scarlet fever. The family was devastated by her death and unable to bear living in a place where they had been so happy, Georg sold his property in Pola (now Pula, Croatia) and bought an estate in Salzburg. Maria Augusta Kutschera was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1905.
While Julie Andrews was the iconic Mary Poppins, she initially almost turned down the role because she was pregnant, but Walt Disney famously told her, "We'll wait for you," delaying production until she gave birth. Before Andrews, actress Angela Lansbury was also considered and reportedly turned down the part before Julie Andrews was cast.
Did Maria von Trapp remarry after her husband died?
No, Maria von Trapp did not remarry after her husband Georg von Trapp died in 1947; she remained a widow for the remaining 40 years of her life, focusing on raising her family, running the Trapp Family Singers, and building their legacy in the United States,.
The Nazi era and the Second World War started to become a real threat to the family, and Georg von Trapp was opposed to Adolf Hitler's morals and ideals. Soon after giving a concert in America, the family decided not to return to Austria. They settled in Vermont and conducted successful tours in the USA for many years.
Rolf Gruber, or better known as Rolf, is the secondary antagonist of the 1959 musical The Sound of Music, and its 1965 film adaptation of the same name. He was an Austrian delivery boy who fell in love with Liesl Von Trapp until betraying her and her family to serve for Hans Zeller and the Nazi Party.
The von Trapp family wasn't as wealthy as the play portrayed. In fact, most of the family servants had been dismissed at the time they began singing as a family. Daughter Eleonore told The Washington Post that because of this, it was hard for Captain von Trapp to see his family on stage.
Did the Reverend Mother really sing in The Sound of Music?
Yes, Mother Abbess (played by Peggy Wood) sings in The Sound of Music, most notably the powerful "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," but her singing voice was actually dubbed by professional singer Margery MacKay (also known as Marjorie MacKay) because Wood, in her 70s, couldn't hit the high notes required by the score.
Did the von Trapp family get their money out of Austria?
After touring in Scandinavia, they returned to the United States on September 7, 1939, and applied for immigrant status. They arrived with very little money, having lost most of the family fortune earlier during a 1935 banking collapse in Austria.
What happened to the captain's first wife in The Sound of Music?
His first wife Agathe Whitehead died of scarlet fever in 1922, leaving behind seven children. Trapp hired Maria Augusta Kutschera to tutor one of his daughters and married her in 1927.
The Sound of Music takes significant dramatic liberties, changing details like the number and genders of the children, Captain von Trapp's personality (he was warmer in reality), and the escape route, which was by train to Italy, not over the Alps into Switzerland; the iconic Max Detweiler is a fictional composite, and the family was musically inclined before Maria arrived, though she did teach them to sing.
The Führer is therefore tax-exempt." After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler took over his office and claimed his salary as well. In his last will and testament, Hitler left his entire estate to the German government: "What I own, as far as it is worth anything, belongs to the party.
Was Julie Andrews in love with Christopher Plummer?
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer admitted to having crushes on each other. The Reason Julie Andrews Didn't Date Her 'The Sound of Music' Co-Star"We were never an item," Andrews said of Christopher Plummer.
