Actress Elke Sommer, Star of A Shot in the Dark, Dies at 85

Actress Elke Sommer, whose roles in A Shot in the Dark and The Prize made her a familiar presence in 1960s films, has died at 85. Her stepson, Sebastian Walther, said she died at her home in Bel Air on Wednesday, October 28. Walther told Bild that Sommer died peacefully at about 10 p.m. He said she could be with her husband again. German hotelier Wolf Walther died in July, three months before Sommer. The reported cause of death was heart failure, according to Bild; no medical record was cited in the reports. The Los Angeles Police Department told The Associated Press it responded Wednesday night to the death of an 85-year-old woman on Sommer’s block. The police account did not establish the cause of death. Born Elke Schletz in Berlin on November 5, 1940, Sommer initially planned to study languages and work as an interpreter. While visiting Italy in 1958, she attracted the attention of filmmaker Vittorio De Sica and began acting in European films, adopting the surname Sommer. Her Hollywood breakthrough came with The Prize, a 1963 film starring Paul Newman. Sommer played a Swedish chaperone and love interest, and received a Golden Globe as most promising newcomer, sharing the...