Elke Sommer, star of 'The Prize' and 'A Shot in the Dark', dies at 85

Elke Sommer, the blonde actress who became a fixture in 1960s American cinema, died on Wednesday at her home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. She was 85. Her stepson, Sebastian Walther, confirmed the news to the German newspaper Bild. The Los Angeles Police Department stated that officers responded to the report of an 85-year-old woman's death on her block late Wednesday night.

Born Elke Schletz in Berlin in 1940, Sommer began acting after a trip to Italy in 1958. Her first role was in the film 'The Friend of the Jaguar.' She soon adopted the surname Sommer and worked across Italy, Spain, and England. Producer Pandro S. Berman offered her a role in the 1963 film 'The Prize,' which served as her major entry into Hollywood. She played the love interest to Paul Newman's character in that picture. The role earned her the Golden Globe for most promising newcomer.

Sommer is widely recognized for her performance in the Pink Panther sequel 'A Shot in the Dark.' In that film, she played Maria Gambrelli, a maid framed for murder who catches the eye of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. Her filmography also includes 'The Art of Love' with James Garner and Dick Van Dyke, 'Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!' with Bob Hope, and 'The Wrecking Crew' with Dean Martin and Sharon Tate.

Her personal life included two marriages. She wed photographer Joe Hyams in November 1964; they divorced in 1981. Hyams captured her photos for Playboy Magazine during that period. In 1993, she married Wolf Walther, a German hotelier. Walther died in July of this year at the age of 77.

While her work in American films slowed during the 1970s, Sommer continued acting in Europe. She appeared in the World War I film 'Zeppelin' and the Agatha Christie adaptation 'And Then There Were None.' She also starred in two horror films directed by Mario Bava. By the 1990s, she shifted her focus to painting, though she remained active in media. She provided the voice for the character Yzma in the German dub of 'The Emperor's New Groove.'

Sommer was involved in a public dispute with actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. The conflict began after a 1984 appearance together on the show 'Circus of the Stars.' In 1990, Gabor was quoted in the German press saying Sommer was broke and earned a living selling hand-knitted sweaters for $150. Gabor's husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, claimed Sommer was lying about her age and looked 100 years old.

Sommer filed a defamation and libel suit seeking $10 million. A jury ruled in her favor in 1993, ordering Gabor and her husband to pay $3.3 million. Despite frequent headlines focusing on her appearance, Sommer told Film Talk in a 2014 interview that the title of sex symbol meant little to her. She attributed her screen presence to energy rather than just physical traits.

She believed strongly in the concept of on-screen glamour. In a 1967 television interview for the film 'Deadlier than the Male,' she stated that movie stars should be extraordinary and above average. She argued that audiences pay high prices for tickets to see people who are not just ordinary neighbors but figures that evoke a sense of awe.