MovieChat Forums > The Sound of Music (1965) Discussion > Charmian Carr looked too old to play Lie...

Charmian Carr looked too old to play Liesl


She was certainly beautiful, but she looked her age (about 25). She was supposed to be 16.

Anyone agree?


I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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Yeah, it was obvious she wasn't 16, but Hollywood has a looooong tradition of hiring 20-somethings (even 30-somethings on occasion) to play teen roles. They have more life experience and years to work on their talent. She had a bigger role than the other kids. They had to make sure that whoever they hired wouldn't sing "16 going on 17" with a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.

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They had to make sure that whoever they hired wouldn't sing "16 going on 17" with a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.

lol good point!


I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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I thought she could easily pass for 16. I think when people knew what her real age was, they think of that.

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I thought she could easily pass for 16. I think when people knew what her real age was, they think of that.


Good point well taken, crinrbrght5! I agree.

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I used to think that. However, having seen some of the secondary school aged girls these days, who look 16-going-on-27 and have the confidence to match, I think she seems positively babyish :-)

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I used to think that. However, having seen some of the secondary school aged girls these days, who look 16-going-on-27 and have the confidence to match, I think she seems positively babyish :-)
I do work recording music for dancing schools and I couldn't agree more.

Let Zygons Be Zygons.

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Actually, she had recently turned 21 when SOM started filming. She has mentioned it in several interviews over the years, and her imdb age matches.

I found her believeable. Especially when you look at other actors even 20 years ago. Shelly Fabares was older than 15 on Donna Reed. Ron Howard and the gang were older than 16 on Happy Days. So were the kids on Fame, Family Ties, Partridge Family, Saved by the Bell, even Glee. Tons of them. Natalie Wood was no high school kid when she starred in West Side Story. Neither were the rest of the lead actors.

Teenagers in the movies look the way real teenagers WISH they did!


How sad, that you were not born in my time, nor I, in yours.

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i feel like she was convincing as a teenager and i was fooled when i first saw the film


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Please. How many teenagers have been played by actors in their 20s? She was pretty and charming - that's really all the part calls for - and audiences have loved her.

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Spot on.Totally not believable.Actually was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the character.

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I thought she was a tad too old to be playing a 16 year old. She seems to tower over her siblings like a young mother and not a sister.

If Carr were five years older (than her real age of 22-23 at the time), and Plummer five years younger, they could've been dating!

But, boy, was her beauty mesmerizing. That's the most important thing of all.

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In hindsight, she looks her age, not sixteen. Louisa looks sixteen. However, they certainly searched enough, and she looks like a member of that family. I believe she said only one person among the Sound of Music production team was on her side for getting the role, but he prevailed in the end. Her mother, a bit of a stage mother, tried to create friction between Carr and her older sister by telling Carr her older sister was jealous and devastated that Carr had been cast instead. I think Carr said she was devastated hearing this until she finally spoke to her sister herself, and her sister said she was so happy for Charmian. Charmian says her sister would have been a terrific Liesl, but from caring for the siblings in the family and having so much responsibility, she didn't look like a teen-ager anymore, but just a young woman. And anyway, her sister went on to have a long acting career.

I think she suits the movie. Now that I look at sixteen going on seventeen, Liesl seems incredibly hot to trot for a G movie, but she had a perfect singing voice for the movie. A nice clear voice but a complete contrast to Maria's/Julie Andrews'.

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