How do you solve a problem like wanting to visit the location of The Sound of Music accompanied by an actual cast member from the film?
Problem solved; brush up on your Do-Re-Mi. Angela Cartwright, who played Brigitta in the classic 1965 film, will be a special guest on a tour of Austria and Bavaria (October 3-12, 2016). The travel package includes stops at many of the locales that were used in the movie. Angela is going to get to reminiscing, and you won’t be fa — a long, long way to run. Think of the selfies.
As well, this year she’s also going to tour Ireland, (June 5-14, 2016), one of her favorite travel spots (still time to book your reservations!).
Here, Angela gives us a little taste of what we can expect as we climb every mountain and follow every path you know (or don’t know yet). Also, she gives us a little background on her amazing real-life family.
If I were going to Salzburg to get a Sound of Music fix, I would want you right next to me.
That’s what’s so unique about this. I’m not a tour guide, but I have lived it. So for those people who loved the movie — there are people who have seen it hundreds of times – it will help you see the movie in a different way, even if you’ve been to Salzburg before.
There is always something new to see and experience when you travel. Even when you go back to a place that you love, there are always adventures. Being in Salzburg again, it’s like I am going back to my old school. All those memories. And I’m sure there will be people who will ask me questions and I will try to answer as well as I possibly can. Making the movie, we were actually there three months. It did rain while we were trying to make the movie, but it was really a cool experience. I think it’s going to be a blast.
We’ll save the movie memories for the tour, but what are your memories of Salzburg as a tourist?
I remember in Salzburg, standing in the gnome garden, looking over the Pegasus Fountain which was part of the Do Re Me sequence, where we go around the fountain. And I would just stand there and watch people come up to that fountain and try to reenact that part of Do Re Mi. It would just crack me up. These people know the movie so well, they know the words so well, and it’s just so much fun. You can’t help but do it and sing.
How psyched are you for this tour?
It’s pretty amazing. We start in Vienna. The weird thing about it is that it looks exactly the same as it did 50 years ago, in the movie. We will spend several days in Salzburg and we are going to go to locations from the movie. I’m going to bring the script.
I know it will bring back a lot of memories of the times that I had there, and how we were filming. We filmed all over Salzburg. There will be a couple of surprises too!
Salzburg is in October, but in June, it’s Ireland. What does Ireland mean to you personally?
Ireland is a very magical place to me. The sites are incredibly beautiful. We’re going to a farm, the Cliffs of Moher, and some of these little towns that are like out of a fairy book. The people are just great and the beer is good.
I think it’s built into their whole nature to welcome you and they love music and dancing and celebrating life. We’re going to be going out to the countryside. We’re going to see an abbey with beautiful gardens. Just so worth the experience.
You’ll be stepping out of the regular world for a while. That’s what you want to do when you take a vacation. You want to go somewhere that is not what you usually do and totally immerse yourself into it.
You’re an artist, and in your travels, you often take photographs and paint them (as shown here).
Ireland is one of my favorite places. For me, it has an art twist to it, but you don’t have to be an artist to be part of it. I find art to be healing and so great a way to remember my past and my adventures.
Most people would be surprised to learn that you were born in England.
My whole family – except for my kids, who were born in America – we’re all from England. My parents were that couple who dreamed of coming to America and making a life here.
We got on a boat and we went to Canada. We had $63 in our pocket. My dad worked for a year in Canada and my mom always wanted to live by the water. We eventually settled in California.
My dad was a technical artist, and I was three when I did my first job. It was a fluke: our next-door neighbor had a child who was in commercials, and her agent was looking for more kids. It was fate, but you have to take those chances to move ahead. My mom was very gutsy. She was a quiet teetoodler, and she was game to give it a try and it worked.
We didn’t even have television. My first job was with Paul Newman. I played his daughter in Someone Up There Likes Me.
You had such an amazingly successful career as a child and teen actor, and yet you didn’t go down the wrong road, as so many child stars do.
I believe that when you spend time with your kids, you have a lot less chance of them trying to find happiness elsewhere. We were very, very close. My mom sat with me every day. She was my guardian.
Your parents actually met during World War II, but in a way reminiscent of today’s Match.com or Tinder!
He was writing to 45 different women during the war. Catholic Digest had a pen pal section. He just weeded them out. It came down to my mom and this other woman. He chose my mom, but they had a pact that if they didn’t like each other, they could call it off. My mom passed away in December [2015] at 93. My dad is 93, and lived in Vegas for the last 25 years.
Enjoy this personal invitation from Angela:
Find out more about Angela here.
Register for your Craft tour with Angela in Ireland and Austria/Bavaria!
Check out our Everybody’s interview with Angela on her exciting, gorgeous book of vintage movie studio photography!
