NEED TO KNOW
- ipromiseyoumedia spoke with Debbie Turner over six many years after she starred in The Sound of Music
- Turner portrayed Marta von Trapp within the traditional movie, which got here out in 1965
- The actress, 69, admits that leaving Hollywood was “not likely by alternative,” however she nonetheless went on to have an awesome profession out of the highlight
The Sound of Music first hit theaters six many years in the past, sweeping audiences away with unforgettable songs and the heartwarming story of the von Trapp household.
That includes iconic performances by stars like Julie Andrews and the late Christopher Plummer, the ’60s movie rapidly grew to become a timeless traditional.
Among the many gifted solid that introduced the von Trapp household to life was Debbie Turner, who performed the lovable Marta. In contrast to a few of her fellow youngster actors in The Sound of Music, Turner wasn’t a longtime star when she landed the position of the second-youngest von Trapp sister at simply 7 years previous.
“Angela [Cartwright] was already a longtime actress beforehand. I wasn’t. I used to be a TV industrial actress,” Turner, 69, tells ipromiseyoumedia. Cartwright, who made her on-screen debut at age 3 in Someone Up There Likes Me, notably portrayed Turner’s older sister within the movie, Brigitta.
The opposite 5 von Trapp youngsters have been performed by Charmian Carr (Liesl), Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich), Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa), Duane Chase (Kurt) and Kym Karath (Gretl).
Nonetheless, after the movie’s success, Turner discovered that Hollywood didn’t precisely welcome her with open arms, admitting that her sudden departure from the enterprise was “not likely by alternative.”
“I’d go in interviews they usually’d go, ‘Oh, so that you have been in The Sound of Music?’” she recollects. “After which it’s like, I don’t know if I obtained placed on a pedestal or I obtained thrown out the facet – I don’t know.”
Performing alternatives dried up, not as a result of she selected to depart, however just because, as she put it, “I simply didn’t get jobs.”
Consequently, The Sound of Music was Turner’s solely main performing credit score.
Through the years, Turner leaned into different passions, changing into extra of an athlete and artist, telling ipromiseyoumedia, “In my spare time, I did enjoyable stuff.”
Although now semiretired, Turner used to run a design firm referred to as Debbie Turner Originals.
“I used to be a floral designer for a few years. I’ve designed weddings…I’ve been a decorator for the White Home for Christmas,” she reveals, calling it a “neat expertise.”
However, after 35 years as a marriage florist, Turner says she’s now “type of retired.” Along with her husband lately stepping away from work as properly, she figured, “Effectively, I needn’t preserve doing this.”
Whereas she nonetheless loves floral design, she admits that she is “getting too previous for these items,” noting that the job was bodily demanding.
Today, she’s fortunately shifting her focus.
“Now it’s grandkids time!” she says.
Turner has been married to Rick Larson since 1989, and collectively they’ve raised 4 youngsters and now take pleasure in life as proud grandparents to 10 grandchildren.
When requested if she’d ever think about stepping again in entrance of the digicam, Turner says she’s open to the thought – but it surely all is determined by the chance.
“In all probability one of many causes I am not in Hollywood films anymore is they do not make films that I might wish to ever be in,” she admits. “So it must have sure qualities about it that may match with the place I am at.”
“If it is healthful and it is an awesome story. Nice actors, one thing like that. Yeah, look, I might think about it,” she provides.
For the primary time ever, The Sound of Music is now accessible worldwide in 4K Extremely HD Digital & Blu-ray disc. That includes remastered sound, restored visuals and bonus content material.
