Elke Sommer, Star of 'A Shot in the Dark', Dies at 85 in Los Angeles

The film world lost one of its most recognizable leading ladies on Wednesday. Elke Sommer, the German-born actress who became a fixture in 1960s Hollywood comedies and spy thrillers, died at 85. She passed away at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Her stepson, Sebastian Walther, confirmed the news to the German newspaper Bild. The Los Angeles Police Department stated that officers responded to a report of a deceased woman on Sommer’s street Wednesday night. The department identified the victim as an 85-year-old female.

Born Elke Schletz in Berlin on Nov. 5, 1940, she grew up during World War II. Her family moved south in 1942, and her father, a Protestant pastor, died when she was 14. She originally planned to study languages, but a chance encounter with an Italian film industry executive in 1958 changed her path. That same year, she began working across Europe under the name Sommer.

Her breakthrough in Hollywood came after producer Pandro S. Berman saw her in a German drama. He cast her in 'The Prize,' where she played the love interest to Paul Newman’s Nobel Prize-winning character. The role earned her the Golden Globe for most promising newcomer. She also appeared in Blake Edwards’ 'A Shot in the Dark,' playing the maid Maria Gambrelli opposite Peter Sellers.

Sommer worked alongside major stars of the era, including James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Bob Hope, and Dean Martin. In 1964, she married photographer Joe Hyams, who took her Playboy photos. The couple divorced in 1981. She later married German hotelier Wolf Walther in 1993. He died in July at age 77.

Her career extended beyond the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, she returned to European cinema, appearing in 'Zeppelin' and 'And Then There Were None.' By the 1990s, she focused on painting while making occasional screen appearances. She also voiced the character Yzma in the German version of 'The Emperor's New Groove.'

Sommer was involved in a high-profile legal dispute with Zsa Zsa Gabor. After Gabor claimed in 1990 that Sommer was broke and sold sweaters, Sommer filed a defamation suit. In 1993, a jury ordered Gabor and her husband to pay Sommer $3.3 million in damages.

In interviews, Sommer downplayed the sex symbol label. She told Film Talk in 2014 that her energy, not her looks, was her primary asset. She remained a proponent of classic movie glamour, telling a reporter in 1967 that stars should be 'extraordinary and above normal' to audiences.