Agathe von Trapp, member of family that inspired ‘The Sound of Music,’ dies at 97

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Agathe von Trapp, a member of the musical family whose escape from Nazi-occupied Austria was the basis for ‘The Sound of Music,’ has died. She was 97.

Von Trapp died Tuesday at a hospice in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Md., after suffering congestive heart failure in November, said Mary Louise Kane. Kane and von Trapp lived together for five decades and ran a kindergarten at the Sacred Heart Catholic parish in nearby Glyndon until 1993.

Von Trapp was the oldest daughter of Austrian naval Capt. Georg Ritter von Trapp. His seven children by his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, were the basis for the singing family in the 1959 play and 1965 film, which won the Oscar for best picture.

The widowed captain had three more children with his second wife, Maria Augusta Kutschera. They performed together as the Trapp Family Singers.

Agathe, a guitarist, was represented in the film by 16-going-on-17 Liesl, played by Charmian Carr. But Agathe was far more reserved than the outgoing Liesl, Kane said.

Although Agathe admired the movie, she felt it misrepresented her father as too strict and not as the loving, caring parent he was, Kane said.

‘She cried when she first saw it because of the way they portrayed him,’ Kane said. ‘She said that if it had been about another family she would have loved it.’

Von Trapp wrote her memoir, ‘Memories Before and After The Sound of Music,’ published in September by Harper Paperbacks, to set the record straight, Kane said.

Johannes von Trapp, the youngest of the children, said Agathe was a private person who also was a talented sketch artist.

He said she will be buried in the spring at a cemetery at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt.

Agathe’s death leaves four surviving members of the Trapp Family Singers: Maria von Trapp, 96; Rosmarie von Trapp, 81; Elenore ‘Lorli’ von Trapp Campbell, 79; and Johannes, 71.

-- Associated Press