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The Real Maria Von Trapp Made a Cameo in ‘The Sound of Music’ — Did You Catch It?

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Fans of The Sound of Music probably know the hit 1965 film was based on the real-life Trapp Family Singers. But did you know that Maria von Trapp, who was famously protrayed by Julie Andrews in the classic movie, actually made an appearance in the picture? We’d bet only eagle-eyed viewers spotted the Maria von Trapp cameo!

Do you remember the scene where Andrews sings and dances her way to the von Trapp family home? As she belts out the lines to the song “I Have Confidence,” she actually passes by the real Maria von Trapp, who is accompanied by her daughter, Rosmarie, and the daughter of Werner von Trapp, one of the original von Trapp children whom Maria cared for.

You can watch the grainy footage on the Rodgers and Hammerstein website, but you may have an easier time picking out the trio on your flat-screen TV at home. When Andrews sings the lines “I must stop these doubts, all these worries / If I don’t, I just know I’ll turn back,” she passes under a large archway. Behind Andrews is what looks like a city center, and you can see three women — the von Trapps — walking across the screen behind her. 

Andrews and Maria von Trapp reuninted in 1973 when the latter made an appeared as a guest on the TV show The Julie Andrews Hour. Von Trapp performed “Edelweiss” and taught Andrews how to yodel.

After the real von Trapps fled Austria in the 1940s, they made money touring the world first as the “Trapp Family Choir” and then as the “Trapp Family Singers.” When they were not touring, they lived in Stowe, Vermont, where they set up a music camp. The Trapp Family Singers disbanded in 1957 and Maria went on to manage the Trapp Family Lodge, a resort in Stowe that is still in operation. She died of heart failure in 1982 and is buried on the lodge’s grounds.

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