the saga of heather menzies, who has gone from playing a wunderkind in "the sound of music" to currently co-starring with a bunch of snakes -- and has grown up along the way
Believe it or not, the young lady on the left appeared in one of the most sexless films of all time. She is Heather Menzies, and nine years ago, she portrayed Louisa von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Since then, however, Heather has appeared onscreen only once (as Julie Andrews' sister in the 1966 production Hawaii). But now, with the release of Ssssssss, Heather not only makes her starring debut but leaves her juvenile roles permanently behind her. "During the shootting of The Sound of Music," says Heather, "I often wondered if I'd started out in movies too young. I don't suppose you could say my career caught fire after the film came out." Be that as it may, the 23-year-old Toronto native was hardly idle between screen roles. At 16 she was cast as a murderess in a short-lived Garson Kanin--directed Broadway play and thereafter landed parts in several television commercials and on segments of Bonanza, The High Chaparral and The Farmer's Daughter. In her new film, she plays the daughter of a scientist who--according to Heather--"believes that the only way to solve the problems of the world is to create a master being, which the doctor defines as a cross between a human and a king cobra." A highlight of shooting Ssssssss, which is about to be released, was the presence of nearly 100 poisonous and non-poisonous snakes featured in the film. "I was surprised," says Heather, "that we took only four weeks to film, considering all the problems we could have had with them. In one scene, I had to play opposite a 15-foot-long python with its mouth held shut by nothing stronger than Scotch tape. In another, I had to hold the star king cobra, and he nearly stole my scene." We doubt that, Heather.
