18 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About 'The Sound of Music'

If there's one musical that everybody knows about, it's definitely The Sound of Music. Who else remembers the first time they watched the movie? I remember instantly falling in love with Julie Andrews and her angelic voice. Julie was charming as her character brought love, kindness and music to the family. I just wanted to get up off the couch to dance and sing along with the Von Trapps! Ever since it was released, it's become a classic.  And even though you've probably seen it dozens of times and at least once a year during Christmas, there are some behind-the-scenes facts about the movie that you probably didn't know about! Here's everything you need to know about The Sound of Music, the best musical ever! 

1. Julie Andrews almost turned down the role of Maria Von Trapp because she was worried that the character was too similar to Mary Poppins! She didn't want to play a nanny twice in a row. 

2. Christopher Plummer confessed that he was actually drunk when they were filming the music festival sequence. 

Well, it's time to rewatch that scene veryclosely to see if it's obvious! 

3. When Maria is running to the Von Trapp house singing "I Have Confidence," she trips. It was actually an accident because Julie was just so into singing the song! 

The director decided to keep it in the movie because he loved it. It added to the nervousness of the song and made Maria even more endearing. 

4. Charmian Carr who played Liesel was 21 years old when they filmed the movie. In her autobiography, she wrote that she was really attracted to the 35-year-old Christopher, who played her father. Christopher even admitted that the feeling was mutual! 

He said it never got beyond flirtation though. 

5. Christopher HATED filming the movie because he couldn't stand working with Julie! Apparently, he said that working with her was like "being hit over the head with a big Valentine's Day card, every day." 

He even used to call the movie The Sound of Mucus and S&M. What?! Who could hate being around that positivity all the time?!

6. Julie accepted the role after the director convinced her to take it. But he also told her that she absolutely had to do this one thing: she had to learn the guitar.

7. The song "Edelweiss" was written specifically for the musical. Austria had no idea about the song until the movie became an international success. 

8. Julie sang "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to the children on set to entertain them between takes. Apparently, they all thought that it was a song she made up for them because Mary Poppins hadn't been released yet. 

Can you imagine having Julie Andrews sing a song for you? Being there in her presence? Breathing the same air as her? How did any of these children survive?!

9. Debbie Turner who played Marta had so many loose teeth during filming. They kept falling out and so the producers replaced them with false teeth. 

10. Christopher recorded his own vocals and even learned to play the guitar for the movie but the producers ended up dubbing everything in the end. 

11. When Maria and the Captain are in the gazebo, Julie couldn't stop laughing because of the noise that a lighting device was making. She said it was like a "raspberry" every time she leaned in to kiss Christopher. 

After ruining more than 20 takes, the scene had to be altered to a silhouette of the two and the sound had to be cut out to hide Julie's giggles!

12. Even though she only briefly sang the song, Julie said that "Edelweiss" is her favorite song from the musical. 

13. Christopher had no information about the real Captain so he went to Salzburg with an interpreter and they met with the Captain's nephew to ask what the real man was like. The nephew told him that he was the most boring man he had ever met!

14. Maria's wedding train was 14 feet long. And also the most beautiful wedding dress ever. It was so elegant!

15. Nicholas Hammond who played Friederich had the biggest crush on Julie during filming. You can even see this during the "The Lonely Goatherd" number. In a couple of shots, Friederich is seen gazing dreamily at Maria!

Honestly, who didn't have a crush on her in this movie?

16. The rowboat scene traumatized Kym Karath, who played Gretl. Kym couldn't swim so Julie was supposed to fall forward when the boat turned over and rescue her. But Julie couldn't get to her in time and Kym almost drowned!

17. Charmian injured herself when filming "Sixteen Going On Seventeen." She fell through the glass in the gazebo and hurt her ankle. In the final scene, she's wearing a bandage covered up with makeup.

18. The movie was so successful that it saved 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy. To this day, it's considered the most successful movie musical. 

COMMENTand tell us your favorite song from the movie! 

I think I'll always love listening to Julie sing "My Favourite Things!"