Daniel Truhitte, the Concord resident who played Rolf Gruber in "The Sound of Music," will speak at a Rockwell church on Sunday, Oct. 25.
Truhitte, 82, is the guest speaker at Immanuel Lutheran Church's 131st anniversary homecoming service. The service begins at 11 a.m. at 2070 Emanuel Church Road in Rockwell, the Salisbury Post reported. He will also be the guest of honor at a luncheon in the church fellowship building afterward. All attendees are invited to the meal.
Truhitte was 20 when he won the role of the telegram delivery boy in the 1965 film, the last cast member added after multiple auditions. He sang "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" opposite Charmian Carr, who played Liesl.
After filming wrapped, Truhitte joined the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He moved to the Charlotte area around 1990 and eventually settled in Concord, where he has taught dance, acting and voice for years. He has also spent decades directing and performing in regional musical theater.
"It stayed with me all these 60 years," Truhitte told Spectrum News in October 2025, reflecting on the role.
A documentary about his life, "A Life of Music – The Daniel Truhitte Story," was released in 2025. Filmmaker Steve Zambo of Salty Earth Pictures spent two years assembling the hourlong film. Truhitte has six children and 13 grandchildren, according to Spectrum News.
Truhitte has survived two severe heart attacks, the Salisbury Post reported. That includes a cardiac arrest in June 2022, when a nurse who happened to be at the same church resuscitated him.
As of a February 2025 profile in the Charlotte Observer, Truhitte and Julie Andrews were the oldest surviving cast members from the film.
If you go: Immanuel Lutheran Church's 131st anniversary homecoming service, Sunday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m., 2070 Emanuel Church Road, Rockwell. Luncheon follows in the fellowship building.
