Charmian Carr dies aged 73

Charmian Carr's spokesman Harlan Boll confirmed on Sunday that the actress passed away in Los Angeles on Saturday following complications from a rare form of dementia.

Born in Chicago in 1942, Carr's mother was a vaudeville actress, and her father was a musician and orchestra leader. Her family moved to the San Fernando Valley when she was a child.

In 1965, Carr starred alongside Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in the film musical "The Sound of Music." She was 21-years-old when she performed the song "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."

Following the success of "The Sound of Music," Carr starred in only one other major Hollywood role. In the Stephen Sondheim television musical "Evening Primrose," she played a mysterious young woman who lived in a department store.

After leaving the movie industry, Carr later went on to write two books about her "Sound of Music" experiences - "Forever Liesl" and "Letters to Liesl." She frequently appeared at sing-a-long performances at the Hollywood Bowl.

"I tell people that they should consider sing-a-long 'Sound Of Music' like going to a therapist," Carr told AP news agency prior to an apperance in 2005.

"It's just a kind of therapy. They can move around. They can dance and talk back to the screen. They can skip their appointment with the shrink that week," she added.

Whilst still embracing her history with the Academy Award winning "Sound of Music," Carr later founded an interior design company in Southern California. Her clients included Michael Jackson and "Sound of Music" screenwriter Ernest Lehman.

Carr is survived by her four siblings, her two children and four grandchildren.