Nicholas Hammond

Hammond was born on May 15, 1950, in Washington, D.C., the son of Colonel Thomas West Hammond, Jr. by his wife Eileen Hammond (née Bennett). Hammond's father was American of English descent and an officer in the U.S. Army, and his mother was English and had played a role in Much Too Shy in 1942. Hammond has one elder brother, David (b. 1946). Hammond's parents had met and married in London during World War II when his father had been posted in the United Kingdom. After the war, the couple moved to the U.S. permanently, and because the Colonel had an army job, the family moved numerous times to various army stations across the country during Hammond's childhood. Nicholas Hammond graduated from the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, before attending and graduating from Princeton University. Col. Hammond died in 1970. Hammond was 11 years old when he made his acting debut as Robin Rhodes in the Broadway play The Complaisant Lover in 1961, playing alongside Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers.

At the same time, he began to shoot for the 1963 film Lord of the Flies, which marked his film debut. After this, Hammond played what was to be his most notable screen role: Friedrich von Trapp (the elder of the two boys) in the 1965 hit The Sound of Music.

Hammond's next acting role came in 1970, when he appeared in Conduct Unbecoming, his first role as an adult. In 1972 Hammond appeared as Peter Linder in Skyjacked. In 1973 he made a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch in season 4, episode #090, "The Subject Was Noses", as the high school hunk, Doug Simpson, who loses interest in Marcia after her tragic football accident. That year Hammond also appeared in The Waltons episode "The Townie", as Theodore Claypool Jr.

After making the transition from juvenile to young leading man, Hammond spent several seasons in daytime soaps, such as General Hospital. He also appeared on many television shows of the 1970s including Hawaii Five-O.

In the late 1970s Hammond re-joined fellow The Sound of Music alumnus Heather Menzies (who played Louisa von Trapp) for one episode of the TV adaptation of Logan's Run. He also contributed to The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook.