A00855 - Heather Menzies-Urich, Louisa of the "Sound of Music"

Heather Menzies-Urich, ‘Sound of Music’ Actress, Dies at 68

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Heather Menzies-Urich, third from the right, with the rest of the von Trapp family from “The Sound of Music.”Credit20th Century Fox Film Corporation

By The Associated Press

Dec. 26, 2017

Heather Menzies-Urich, an actress best known for playing one of the singing von Trapp children in the hit 1965 film “The Sound of Music,” died on Sunday in Frankford, Ontario. She was 68.

Her son, the actor Ryan Urich, told Variety that she died not long after learning she had brain cancer.

Ms. Menzies-Urich — who was known as Heather Menzies throughout her acting career — played Louisa von Trapp, the third-oldest of the seven singing von Trapp children, in “The Sound of Music,” one of the most successful movies on the 1960s. Adapted from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway musical, it starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer and won five Academy Awards, including best picture.

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Ms. Menzies-Urich, left, in 2015 with Kym Karath and Debbie Turner. As children, all three had roles in the film “The Sound of Music.”CreditKevork Djansezian/Reuters

“Heather was part of ‘the family.’ There is really no other way to describe the members of the cast of the movie of ‘The Sound of Music,’ ” Ted Chapin, president and chief creative officer of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, said in a statement.

Charmian Carr, who portrayed the eldest von Trapp daughter, Liesl, in the movie, died last year.

Heather Menzies was born in Toronto on Dec. 3, 1949. She moved to the United States with her family when she was 11 and attended Hollywood High School. “The Sound of Music” was her first film.

She went on to appear in “Hawaii” (1966), alongside her “Sound of Music” co-star Ms. Andrews, as well as “Piranha” (1978), “Endangered Species” (1982) and other movies. On television, she was a regular on the 1977-78 science-fiction series “Logan’s Run” and also seen on “Dragnet,” “Bonanza,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.” and other shows, including “Vegas,” which starred her husband, Robert Urich.

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Ms. Menzies-Urich married Mr. Urich in 1975. He died of cancer in 2002. After his death, Ms. Menzies-Urich established the Robert Urich Foundation to raise funds for cancer research.

In addition to her son Ryan, she is survived by two daughters, Allison and Emily, several grandchildren and a great-grandchild, Variety reported.