By Ahmed Abdelsalam
German-born actress Elke Sommer, a mainstay of 1960s Hollywood comedies and espionage films, died Wednesday at her home in Bel Air, Los Angeles. She was 85.
Confirmation and background
Her stepson Sebastian Walther informed the German outlet Bild of her death. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed it responded to the death of an 85-year-old woman on Sommer's block Wednesday night.
Early life and European career
Born Elke Schletz in Berlin on November 5, 1940, Sommer evacuated with her family in 1942. Her father, a Protestant pastor, died when she was 14. While visiting Italy with her mother in 1958, she was spotted by the Italian film industry and debuted in "The Friend of the Jaguar." Actor Vittorio De Sica soon cast her in productions across Italy, Spain, and England.
Hollywood breakthrough
Producer Pandro S. Berman brought her to Hollywood for "The Prize" (1963), where she played chaperone and love interest to Paul Newman's Nobel laureate. The role earned her a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer. She then starred as Maria Gambrelli in Blake Edwards' Pink Panther sequel "A Shot in the Dark" (1964) opposite Peter Sellers.
Later work and personal life
Sommer appeared alongside James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Sharon Tate in films such as "The Art of Love," "Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!" and "The Wrecking Crew." She posed for Playboy in the 1960s, photographed by her first husband Joe Hyams, whom she married in 1964 and divorced in 1981. In 1993 she married German hotelier Wolf Walther, who died in July 2026. Sommer often dismissed the sex symbol label, telling Film Talk in 2014 that her appeal stemmed from energy rather than looks.
