Elke Sommer


Elke Sommer is a German actress. She appeared in numerous films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in The Pink Panther sequel A [Shot in the Dark (1964 film)|A Shot in the Dark], the Bob Hope comedy Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, and the British Carry On series in Carry On Behind.

Early life

Sommer was born in Berlin to Baron Peter von Schletz, a Lutheran minister, and his wife, Renata. During the Second World War, the family was evacuated to Niederndorf, a village near Erlangen, a small university town in Franconia. From 1950, she attended a gymnasium (university-preparatory secondary school). Her father died when she was 14. Elke was good with languages, but math and science posed challenges, so her mother let her drop out of gymnasium in 1957 one year after graduating from middle school. In the spring of 1957, she moved to London for one year to work as an au pair for the family of now actress Vicki Michelle and to attend an English language institute three times a week. This was her first time away from home and family, and she was quite homesick.

Career

Discovery

Sommer was spotted by film director Vittorio De Sica while on holiday in Italy, and she began appearing in films there in 1958. Also that year, she changed her surname from Schletz to Sommer. She soon became a sex symbol and moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s. Sommer became one of the more popular pin-up girls of the time, posing for pictorials in the September 1964 and December 1967 issues of Playboy magazine.

The 1960s

Sommer became one of the top film actresses of the 1960s. She made 99 film and television appearances from 1959 to 2005, including The Prize with Paul Newman, A Shot [in the Dark (1964 film)|A Shot in the Dark] with Peter Sellers, The Art of Love with James Garner and Dick Van Dyke, The Oscar with Stephen Boyd, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! with Bob Hope, the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male, The Wrecking Crew with Dean Martin and Sharon Tate, and The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz ; in each of these films she was the leading lady.
In 1964, she won a Golden Globe award as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for The Prize, a film in which she co-starred with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.
File:Silvia Pinal & Elke Sommer.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Sommer with Mexican actress Silvia Pinal in the Italian film Men and Noblemen
A frequent guest on television, Sommer sang and participated in comedy sketches on episodes of The [Dean Martin Show] and on Bob Hope specials, made 10 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was a panelist on the Hollywood Squares game show many times between 1971 and 1980, when Peter Marshall was its host.

The 1970s

Sommer's films during the 1970s included the thriller Zeppelin, in which she co-starred with Michael York, and a 1974 remake of Agatha Christie's murder mystery Ten Little Indians. In 1972, she starred in two Italian horror films directed by Mario Bava: Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil. In 1975, Sommer went back to Italy to act in additional scenes for Lisa and the Devil, which its producer inserted into the film to convert it to House of Exorcism against the wishes of the director.
In 1975, Peter Rogers cast her in the British comedy Carry On Behind as the Russian Professor Vrooshka. She became the Carry On films' joint highest-paid performer, at £30,000; this was an honour that she shared with Phil Silvers.
Most of her movie work during the decade came in European films. After the 1979 comedy The [Prisoner of Zenda (1979 film)|The Prisoner of Zenda], which reunited her with Sellers, the actress did virtually no more acting in Hollywood films, concentrating more on her artwork.
Sommer also performed as a singer, recording and releasing several albums.

Later work

In the 1980s, Sommer hosted a syndicated programme titled The Exciting World of Speed and Beauty. She also appeared twice on Hollywood Squares in episodes that aired in May 1987 and in May 1989.
After the 1990s, Sommer concentrated more on painting than on acting. As an actress, she had worked in six countries learning the languages and storing images which she has expressed on canvas. Her artwork shows a strong influence from Marc Chagall.
Sommer was embroiled in a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars. The feud escalated into a multimillion-dollar libel suit by 1993, resulting in Sommer being awarded $3.3-million in damages from Gabor and her husband, Frederick von Anhalt, for defaming her in interviews published in a pair of German publications in 1990.
In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Sommer provided the voice of Yzma in the German version of The Emperor's New Groove.

Personal life

In 1964, Sommer married Hollywood columnist Joe Hyams, who was 17 years her senior, in Las Vegas. Hyams would file for divorce from Sommer in 1981. Hyams claimed in his divorce filing that the time he was married to Sommer "were the best 17 years of my life," but that she now needed "her independence" in order to be "happy."
While being cast in the play Tamara, which she started appearing in 1989, she met Wolf Walther, eight years her junior and the managing director of a luxury hotel, Essex House, in New York City. They were married on 29 August 1993 in her German hometown of Franconia. Her second husband would move to Los Angeles with her following their honeymoon. In a 2014 interview, Sommer described how she and Walther met:
I was in New York City starring in Tamara and had to stay there for four months. So, I had to find an apartment but they were excruciatingly expensive, tiny and loud. As I knew the managing director of the Essex House, I wanted to talk to him about renting a room but the hotel had a new managing director, a man by the name of Wolf Walther. So we met. For him, it was love at first sight. For me, it took a little longer, but not much longer. As you may know, Tamara is a play in which the audience follows the actor of their choice, and as you may also know, my husband is 6'5" and hard to miss. I saw him every night in the audience, following me. Every night. And that was the beginning of the greatest love story of my life, still unfolding and getting better by the day.

Sommer has no children.
As of May 2017, Sommer was living in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Film

The Friend of the Jaguar – GreteMen and Noblemen – CaterinaRagazzi del Juke-Box – Giulia CesariThe Death Ship – Mylene, ein Französisches MädchenThe Day [the Rains Came (film)|The Day the Rains Came] – EllenLa Pica sul Pacifico – RossanaStage Fright – EvelyneHowlers in the Dock – Giulia GiommarelliHeaven, Love and Twine – EvaThe Warrior Empress Femmine di lusso – Greta' – BrittaDaniella by Night – DaniellaDon't Bother to Knock – IngridBeloved Impostor – Barbara ShadwellAuf Wiedersehen – Suzy DaltonCafé Oriental – SylviaDouce violence – ElkeDas Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt – Renate HeckerUn chien dans un jeu de quilles – ArianeBahía de Palma – OlgaThe Phone Rings Every Night – Tochter Mabel MeyerLes Bricoleurs – BrigitteOstrva – EvaThe Victors – Helga Metzger...denn die Musik und die Liebe in Tirol The Prize – Inger Lisa AnderssonA Shot in the Dark – Maria GambrelliAmong Vultures – Annie DillmanLe bambole – Ulla Hotel der toten Gäste – HerselfThe Art of Love – Nikki DunnayThe Money Trap – Lisa BaronThe Oscar – Kay BergdahlBoy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! – DidiThe Venetian Affair – Sandra FaneThe Peking Medallion – Lilly ManciniDeadlier Than the Male – Irma EckmanThe Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz – Paula SchultzThey Came to Rob Las Vegas – Ann BennettThe Wrecking Crew – Linka KarenskyThe Invincible Six – ZariPercy – HelgaZeppelin – Erika AltschulBaron Blood – Eva ArnoldTrip to Vienna – Toni SimonLisa and the Devil – Lisa Reiner / ElenaOne or the Other of Us – MieziPercy's Progress – ClarissaTen Little Indians – Vera ClydeCarry On Behind – Professor Anna VooshkaThe Net – Christa SonntagOne Away – ElsaThe Swiss Conspiracy – Rita JensenMeet Him and Die – Perrone's SecretaryThe Astral Factor – Chris Hartman I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses – Magdalene KruschenThe Prisoner of Zenda – The CountessThe Double McGuffin – Madame KuraThe Treasure Seekers – UrsulaExit Sunset Boulevard – Frau LachmannA Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square – Miss PelhamThe Man in Pyjamas – Frau LachmannLily in Love – Alicia Braun

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1972ProbeHeideline 'Uli' UllmanTV movie
1973The Tonight Show with Johnny CarsonHerself
1976Six Million Dollar ManDr Ilse MartinS4E5
1979Stunt SevenRebecca WayneTV movie
1979The Muppet ShowHerselfS3E19-
1980Top of the HillEva HeggenerTV movie
1982Inside the Third ReichMagda GoebbelsTV movie
1985Jenny's WarEva Gruenberg4 episodes
1986The Exciting World of Speed and BeautyHerself
1986Peter the GreatCharlotteTV miniseries
1986St. ElsewhereNatasha1 episode
1986Anastasia: The Mystery of AnnaIsabel Von HohenstauffenTV movie
1988Adventures Beyond BeliefHeadmistress Bruno von Kleff5 episodes
1992CounterstrikeAnita DuvalierEpisode: "Counterstrike (1990 TV series) episodes#ep49|No Honour Among Thieves]"
1993Happy HolidayIsabella Scattini1 episode
1993Destiny RidgeAnna
1994Florian IIISonja Carpenter
1999Gisbert1 episode
2000Nicht mit unsAndrea ParettiTV movie
2005ReblausMaria RüppelTV movie
2005Ewig rauschen die GelderFrau von KorffTV movie