'Sound of Music' actress Charmian Carr dead at 73

Charmian Carr, best known for portraying Liesl in The Sound of Music, passed away in Los Angeles on Sept. 18. According to the Associated Press, Carr suffered from a rare form of dementia which grew complicated and eventually led to her death.

Carr only acted in two films during her lifetime, but her role as 16-going-on-17 Liesl Von Trapp is cemented in cinematic history. She worked as an interior designer.

"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.' "

"I tell people that they should consider sing-a-long Sound Of Music like going to a therapist," Carr told The Associated Press in 2005. "It's just a kind of therapy. They can move around. They can dance and talk back to the screen."

Carr is survived by her two children and four grandchildren, and by the fellow Von Trapp siblings who became a "second family."