‘Sound of Music’ actress Charmian Carr, who played Liesl von Trapp, dies at 73

Charmian Carr, the actress best known for sweetly portraying the eldest von Trapp daughter in Rogers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, has died. She was 73.

Carr died Saturday of complications from a rare form of dementia in Los Angeles, Carr’s spokesman, Harlan Boll, said.

At age 21, the actress portrayed Liesl von Trapp in the 1965 film version of the musical The Sound of Music. She famously performed the song Sixteen Going on Seventeen.

After The Sound of Music, Carr’s only other major Hollywood role was starring with Anthony Perkins in the Stephen Sondheim television musical Evening Primrose. She played a mysterious young woman who lived in a department store.

Watch: ‘Sixteen Going On Seventeen’

“It’s always sad when a member of the family passes away — and in the case of the ‘family’ of the movie ‘The Sound of Music,’ it’s especially sad when it is the first of the group to go,” said Ted Chapin, president of the Rogers & Hammerstein organization, in a statement. “Charmian Carr played the oldest von Trapp child, and in some ways she maintained that role in real life — guiding, cheering, supporting and generally being there for the rest of her ‘sisters’ and ‘brothers.’ ”