‘Pink Panther’ Actress Elke Sommer Dies Days Before 86th Birthday

Elke Sommer, the German actress known for her role in the Pink Panther sequel film A Shot in the Dark, has died at 85.

On Wednesday, October 28, Sommer “passed away peacefully around 10 p.m” at her Los Angeles home, her stepson, Sebastian Walther, told the German outlet, Bild, per Page Six. Her death came three months after her husband, Wolf Walther, died following a battle with cancer.

“Now she can finally be with her beloved husband again,” Sebastian told the outlet.

Sommer would have celebrated her 86th birthday on November 5. According to Bild, she stepped away from acting and, in recent months, became bed-bound as a result of heart failure.

“She could never have imagined a life without her beloved ‘Papa Bear,’ her husband Wolf Walther,” Erwin Schneider, a friend, told the outlet, per USA Today. “Her health had steadily declined since then. Now Elke has finally been able to join him.”

In 1964’s A Shot in the Dark, Sommer played Maria Gambrelli opposite Peter Sellers‘ Jacques Clouseau. The film was a standalone sequel to 1963’s The Pink Panther.

Sommer, an international sex symbol in the ’60s, was also known for roles in films like The Prize (1963) with Paul Newman, The Oscar (1966), Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) with Bob Hope, and The Wrecking Crew (1968). In 1964, she won a Golden Globe for The Prize for Most Promising Newcomer – Female.

Additionally, Sommer made guest TV appearances in shows like Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, St. Elsewhere, and more.

Sommer’s most recent acting credit was voice work in a 2017 short film titled A Thousand Kisses.