Actress Debbie Turner was just 7 years old when she landed the role of Marta von Trapp in the iconic 1965 film The Sound of Music. Now, her 7-year-old granddaughter, Fifer Steer, has reprised the same role.
Steer starred in the Thief River Falls Area Community Theater‘s production of The Sound of Music, which ran June 10-17, 2026.
“It just warmed my heart. I was so thrilled for her,” Turner told the Thief River Falls Times.
Steer’s first acting role
Before landing her role as Marta, Steer had never acted before. (She does play piano and also takes ballet, tap, and jazz lessons.) But when her family found out auditions were being held, she wanted to be part of it.
Steer played the part of Marta in her first acting role. When she auditioned, her parents, Brooke and Jason, made sure to keep their family connection to The Sound of Music a secret so as not to impact the outcome.
Brooke told WQAD-TV, “No one can know. I don’t want anybody to know that she is Marta’s granddaughter.”
So when Steer found out she’d landed the role of Marta, they were ecstatic.
“I was jumping up and down!” Steer told the Thief River Falls Times.
It likely won’t be Steer’s last time acting. The play’s director, Jane Anderson, told WQAD-TV that Steer “just has that spark on stage.”
Anderson added that she had no idea Steer was Turner’s granddaughter, saying, “I found out for sure because I talked to her mother, and her mother told me. But she had already been cast.”
Turner was there to see Steer perform and shared a photo of them posing together on Instagram. She also honored Steer onstage after the performance with a bouquet of flowers.
“Debbie spent time meeting with performers, crew, and volunteers, answering questions, sharing memories, posing for photos, and congratulating everyone on a successful run,” the Thief River Falls Area Community Theater shared on Instagram. “She also gifted every cast and crew member a signed photograph, creating a keepsake that will be treasured for years to come.”
Turner’s role as Marta
Turner was just as surprised as everyone else when Steer landed the role of Marta. She told WQAD-TV, “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know she was trying out. It was pretty neat. Pretty exciting.”
Reflecting on her own experience playing Marta, she added, “It was so much fun. All we did was play.”
Like her granddaughter, Turner shared that while filming at 7 years old, she had lost some baby teeth and was required to wear a special mouthpiece to fill the gaps in her smile.
“If it sounded like I talked with a lisp, it’s because I had all this hardware in my mouth,” she told the news outlet.
Turner also told People in September 2025 that when she landed the role of Marta, she had only worked in commercials. Unfortunately, the role did not lead to future Hollywood success.
“I’d go in interviews and they’d go, ‘Oh, so you were in The Sound of Music?’” she told the publication. “And then it’s like, I don’t know if I got put on a pedestal or I got thrown out the side – I don’t know…I just didn’t get jobs.”
Turner spent 35 years as a floral designer.
“I was a floral designer for many years,” she told People. “I’ve designed weddings…I have been a decorator for the White House for Christmas.”
Turner married her husband, Rick Larson, in 1989. Together, they had four children and now have 11 grandchildren.
