Dear Liesel

When you hear about the legendary film, "The Sound of Music" what is the one thing that comes to your mind? For most of us, it is Chariman Carr, as the eldest von Trapp daughter, performing the song "I am Sixteen going on Seventeen," a playful duet with her boyfriend Rolf who sings back that he is"seventeen going on eighteen." 

We remember Carr's elegant dance moves to wearing that famous light fluttery dress with a fitted bodice. We remember her youthful look and that gorgeous smile with the dimple. We remember her startlingly bright blue eyes, of which once the casting team thought that they would look odd onscreen. For many"The sound of Music" lovers, Carr was the real attraction of this film.

CharimanCarr died aged 73 on September 17 in Los Angeles after complications from a rare form of dementia. Tributes have poured in for this wonderful actress since news of her tragic death.

This American actress was mostly popular for her role as Liesl, the eldest of the seven von Trapp children in the 1965 five-Oscar-winning film, "The Sound of Music."

"When people look at me and see Liesl, I believe they are looking into a mirror," she wrote in her memoir. "If the film has touched them in some way, it is because it represents the world as they want it to be. If it makes them feel love or happiness or hope, it is because they have these feelings inside them."

When she first auditioned for the role, she did not have any previous professional singing or acting experience. It's because of the ballet lessons that she had been taking from the age of four, her lovely voice and spontaneous body language, she earned the role.  She was 21 when she auditioned for a role that required a 16-year-old. But she never looked her age, so she could pull off the character successfully, and left an indelible mark on many of her fans' hearts. 

Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" was an instant hit, in fact, as it got released, it surpassed the popularity of "Gone with the Wind" as the highest-grossing film of all time. Apart from Liesel, her only other major role was in the Stephen Sondheim television musical "Evening Primrose."

The memories of "The Sound of Music" stayed with her forever. In factCarr later wrote a couple of books about her experiences, "Forever Liesl" and "Letters ToLiesl" and hosted "The Sound of Music" singalongs. 

"It was hard to have your first role as the high spot of your 

career," she once told the London Daily Telegraph. "I felt smothered by Liesl. She began to feel like my evil twin, the perfect one that everyone loved."She later starred in the Stephen Sondheim television musical "Evening Primrose" with Anthony Perkins.

Unfortunately her acting career ended as she married a man who "didn't want an actress for a wife." Instead of acting, she later appeared in commercials and became an interior designer in California where one of clients was Michael Jackson. 

Rest in peace, dear Liesel.