‘I could see the poor child flailing’: Julie Andrews recalls saving her kid co-star’s LIFE during boating scene in The Sound Of Music… after Gretl von Trapp actress nearly drowned
- The star, 84, divulged details in her memoir Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, in which she gives insight into her 74 years in the spotlight
- Seven-year-old child actress Kym Karath, now 61, who played Gretl Von Trapp, nearly drowned during filming when a boat violently rocked
- After being dragged out of the water , Kym began vomiting the water she had swallowed and was ultimately saved by Heather Menzies, who played Louisa
Julie Andrews has discussed the horrifying moment one of the child actors in The Sound Of Music nearly drowned while filming.
The Hollywood legend, 84, divulged details of the moment in her new memoir Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, in which she gives insight into her 74 years in the spotlight and the process of filming the iconic 1965 movie.
It is the stuff of legend that seven-year-old child actress Kym Karath, now 61, who played Gretl Von Trapp, nearly drowned during filming as Julie reported that when a boat violently rocked she went over the back.
Terror: Julie Andrews has discussed the horrifying moment one of the child actors from The Sound Of Music nearly drowned while filming
Julie, who famously played Maria von Trapp in the movie, shed light on the terrifying moment she was forced to rescue the little girl.
She wrote: ‘The assistant director waded rather urgently through the water towards me and whispered, “The little one can’t swim…” “WHAT?!”…
‘”Yes”, he said. ‘We’d be most grateful if you could get to her as quickly as possible once you’re in the water’.
‘In the second take, the boat rocked so violently that I went over the back as Kym [the child actor playing Gretl] went over the front.
Shocking: The Hollywood legend, 84, divulged details of the moment in her new memoir Home Work, in which she gives insight into her 74 years in the spotlight and the process of filming the iconic 1965 movie
‘I have never swum so fast in my life. I could see the poor child flailing away and going under at least twice. Crew members dove into the water to help save her, and mercifully we got there in time.’
Eventually, Kym began vomiting the water she had swallowed and was ultimately saved by Heather Menzies, who played Louisa in the movie.
It was later revealed that Kym’s fear of water followed her into later life due to the trauma of the near-drowning incident.
Changes: Julie hasn’t appeared in front of the camera in a feature film for almost 10 years, but that doesn’t mean she has slowed down. She’s just moved on to other things, like voice work, book writing and even directing theater
Julie hasn’t appeared in front of the camera in a feature film for almost 10 years, but that doesn’t mean she has slowed down as she now enjoys voice work, book writing and even directing theater.
In June, she sat down with The Associated Press to talk about the new memoir, her early onslaught of success and her life now. Although she admits she sees herself as being in a “second career,” she confessed she still enjoys looking back.
She was asked: ‘You appear to have a very healthy relationship with criticism and separating what your hopes are for a project and how they might not have matched with the reception. How did you reach that kind of peace?”
Before responding: ‘You can’t win them all! But I hope in this case that they like the book. But you cannot please everyone. How could you? So many people are coming at it from their own point of view. It’s life.’
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