Elke Sommer was born Elke Schletz in Berlin on November 5, 1940. Her father, a Lutheran minister, died when she was 14. When she was 17 she worked for a year as an au pair in London. It was while she was vacationing in Viareggo, Italy with her mother that she was declared the winner of a beauty contest while sitting in a cafe. Her picture appeared in the local paper. This led to her being cast in The Friend of the Jaguar (1959). Director Vittorio De Sica took notice of her and cast her in Men and Noblemen (1959). In the late Fifties, she appeared in the films Ragazzi del Juke-Box (1959), The Death Ship (1959), The Day the Rains Came (1959), La Pica sul Pacifico (1959), Stage Fright (1960), Howlers in the Dock (1960), Heaven, Love and Twine (1960). The Warrior Empress (1960), and Femmine di lusso (1960).
It was in 1961 that Eke Sommer appeared in her first English language film, the British comedy Don't Bother to Knock. Her first Hollywood film was the thriller The Prize (1963). In the Sixties, she appeared in the movies Und sowas nennt sich Leben (1961), Daniella By Night (1961), Beloved Imposter (1961), Auf Wiedersehen (1961),. Café Oriental (1962), Douce violence (1962), Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt (1962), Un chien dans un jeu de quilles (1962), Bahía de Palma (1962), The Phone Rigs Every Night (1962), Les Bricoleurs (1963), Ostrva (1963), The Victors (1963), ...denn die Musik und die Liebe in Tirol (1963). A Shot in the Dark (1964), Among Vultures (1964), La bambole (1965), Hotel of Dead Guests (1965), The Art of Love (1965, The Money Trap (1965), The Oscar (1966), Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), The Venetian Affair (1967), The Peking Medallion (1967), Deadlier Than the Male (1967), The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968), They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968), The Wrecking Crew (1969), and The Invincible Six (1970). On television, she guest starred on The Jack Benny Hour.
In the Seventies, Elke Sommer guest starred on the shows Probe, Die Vico-Torriani-Show, Six Million Dollar Man, and The Muppet Show.and Forever Fernwood. She appeared in the movies Percy (1971), Zeppelin (1971), Baron Blood (1972), Trip to Vienna (1973), Lisa and the Devil (1973), One or the Other of Us (1974), Percy's Progress (1974), Ten Little Indians (1974), Carry On Behind (1975), The Net (1975), One Away (1976), The Swiss Conspiracy (1976), Meet Him and Die (1976), The Astral Factor (1978), I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (1978), The Prisoner of Zenda (1979), The Double McGuffin (1979), The Treasure Seekers (1979), A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979), and Exit Sunset Boulevard (1980).
In the Eighties, she appeared on the shows Fantasy Island,. Die Krimistunde, The Love Boat, St Elsewhere, and Adventures Beyond Belief. She appeared on the mini-series Jenny's War, Peter the Great, and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, She appeared in the movies The Man in Pyjamas (1981). Lily in Love (1984), No One Cries Forever (1984), Death Stone (1987), and Himmelsheim (1988).
In the Nineties, she appeared in the movies Severed Ties (1992), Life is a Bluff (1996), Doppeltes Spiel mit Anne (1999), and Flashback (2000). She guest starred on the shows Countersrike, Happy Holidays, Destiny Ridge, and Florian III. In the Naughts, she appeared in the movie Life is Too Long (2010). In the Naughts, she guest starred on the TV show Für alle Fälle Stefanie.
Elke Sommer was a remarkable actress. She had a gift for comedy, and excelled in caper movies and spy films. She played one of two lesbian assassins in the spy spoof Deadlier Than the Male. In The Venetian Affair, she played the ex-wife of a former CIA agent, who may or may not be a Communist sympathizer. In They Came to Rob Las Vegas, she played the secretary and mistress of a security transport expert. Of course, she may be best remembered as Maria Gambrelli, the maid who may or not be guilty of murder in A Shot in the Dark. She played a woman saved by an artist in The Art of Love and a French movie star in Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!. She could play roles beyond caper movies, spy movies and comedies. She was a history scholar and architect's assistant in Baron Blood and an American tourist who is Satan's prey in Lisa and the Devil. Elke Sommer could play a variety of roles and was entertaining in many films and TV shows.
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