Elke Sommer, Star of 'A Shot in the Dark' and 'The Prize,' Dies at 85

Elke Sommer, the German-born actress who became one of the most recognizable faces of 1960s Hollywood in films such as “A Shot in the Dark” and “The Prize,” has died. She was 85.

Sommer died Wednesday, Oct. 28, at her home in Bel-Air, California, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter. Her stepson, Sebastian Walther, told the German newspaper Bild that she died of heart failure. “Elke passed away peacefully around 10 p.m. Now she can finally be with her beloved husband again,” he said.

Her husband, German hotelier Wolf Walther, died of cancer on July 22, about three months earlier. Deadline said complete information on survivors was not immediately available, and The Hollywood Reporter noted she had no children of her own.

Who was Elke Sommer?

Sommer was born Elke Schletz in Berlin on Nov. 5, 1940, just days short of what would have been her 86th birthday. An only child, she was the daughter of a Protestant minister who died when she was 14, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At 17 she moved to London for a year to work as an au pair. While on vacation in Viareggio, Italy, she was declared the winner of a beauty contest in a cafe, and her photo in the next day’s paper caught a producer’s eye. Director and actor Vittorio De Sica soon cast her, and she adopted the surname Sommer. She was fluent in five languages and made films in Italy, France, Spain, England and Germany before Hollywood came calling, THR reported.

What movies was Elke Sommer in?

Her breakthrough was MGM’s “The Prize” (1963), opposite Paul Newman. The role earned her a Golden Globe as most promising newcomer, an honor THR says she shared with Tippi Hedren and Ursula Andress.

Notable films, as listed by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter:

• “The Prize” (1963), with Paul Newman
• “A Shot in the Dark” (1964), the Pink Panther sequel with Peter Sellers, in which she played the maid Maria Gambrelli
• “The Art of Love” (1965), with James Garner and Dick Van Dyke
• “The Money Trap” (1965), with Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth
• “The Oscar” (1966), with Stephen Boyd
• “Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!” (1966), with Bob Hope
• “Deadlier Than the Male” (1967)
• “The Wrecking Crew” (1968), with Dean Martin and Sharon Tate
• “Baron Blood” (1972) and “Lisa and the Devil” for director Mario Bava
• “Ten Little Indians” (1975) and “The Prisoner of Zenda” (1979), the latter reuniting her with Sellers

Why is ‘A Shot in the Dark’ her best-known role?

Many fans remembered her as Maria Gambrelli, the maid accused of murder who is rescued and romanced by Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau. In a 2014 interview with the website Film Talk, quoted by THR, Sommer said strangers on golf courses would shout “Hey, Maria Gambrelli!” at her. “It makes me feel very privileged,” she said, adding that she agreed with people who call “A Shot in the Dark” the best of the Pink Panther films.

What did Elke Sommer do on TV?

As her film career slowed, Sommer moved into television in the 1980s and ’90s. She played the wife of Joseph Goebbels in the 1982 ABC miniseries “Inside the Third Reich,” was a frequent guest on Dean Martin’s NBC variety show, and appeared on “St. Elsewhere,” “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island” and “The Muppet Show,” according to the two outlets.

She also had several other careers, per THR:

• Cabaret singer who recorded several albums
• Painter who hosted a PBS how-to show, “Painting With Elke Sommer”
• Race-car fan who hosted “Elke Sommer’s World of Speed and Beauty”
• Stage actress in “Irma la Douce,” “Born Yesterday” and “Cactus Flower”

What was the Elke Sommer and Zsa Zsa Gabor feud?

The two clashed after the 1984 CBS series “Circus of the Stars.” Deadline reported that Gabor apparently overheard Sommer joke about her weight, and later told a German outlet damaging claims about Sommer. Sommer sued Gabor and her husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, and a Santa Monica jury awarded her $3.3 million in December 1993, according to THR.

Who was Elke Sommer married to?

Sommer was married to Hollywood columnist and author Joe Hyams from 1964 until their 1981 divorce. She married Wolf Walther, a former managing director of the Century Plaza Hotel, in 1993, and they were together until his death in July.

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