By Karim Hammam
German-American actress Elke Sommer, known for glamorous roles in Carry On Behind and The Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark, has died at the age of 85. According to the German newspaper Bild, Sommer died on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, just months after the death of her husband, Wolf Walther, who passed away in July at 77.
Film career
Born Elke Schletz in Nazi Germany in 1940, Sommer moved to London in 1957 to work as an au pair before being discovered by a photographer while on holiday in Italy. She became a successful pin-up model, posing for Playboy, and transitioned to film. Her credits include The Prize (1963) with Paul Newman, A Shot in the Dark (1964) with Peter Sellers, The Wrecking Crew (1968) with Sharon Tate, and the Carry On franchise entry Carry On Behind (1975) as Professor Anna Vooshka. She also voiced the villainess Yzma in the German dub of Disney's The Emperor's New Groove (2000).
Feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor
Off-screen, Sommer was known for a long-running feud with Hungarian-American socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor, which reportedly began during the 1984 television special Circus of the Stars over a remark about a horse. Sommer later sued Gabor and her husband Frederick von Anhalt for defamation and was awarded $3.3 million in damages in 1993. Sommer largely retired from acting in the 1990s to focus on painting, living in Los Angeles and Germany.
