HILLS WERE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF CHOPPER BLADES
THE 1965 musical The Sound Of Music is cherished for Andrews joyfully singing ‘the hills are alive with the sound of music’, as she runs through an Alpine meadow in the movie’s opening scene. Filming it, with the cameraman hanging out of a helicopter, certainly wasn’t joyful, she says. ‘As the helicopter drew closer, I spun around with my arms open as if about to sing,’ she recalls. ‘All I had to do was walk, twirl and take a breath.’ Unfortunately, as she completed her twirl, the downdraught from the helicopter’s blades was so powerful it hurled her to the ground. ‘I’d haul myself up, spitting mud and grass and brushing off my dress and trek back to my starting position,’ she recalls. ‘Each time the helicopter encircled me, I was flattened again. It took nine takes. Finally, the shot was deemed acceptable and I was grateful to return to my hotel and take a hot bath.’ Even her hairdo was beset by misfortune. Her blonde crop was designed to cover up a hairstyling mishap that had turned her brown hair orange. Andrews admits she found the story ‘too sentimental and saccharine and over the top’ when she first saw it as a musical on Broadway: ‘I mean, you have mountains and nuns and seven children — but all together?’