Elke Sommer
Biography
Elke Sommer, born Elke von Schletz, is a German actress, entertainer and artist, who has starred in many Hollywood films. She was spotted by film director Vittorio De Sica while on holiday in Italy, and began appearing in films there in 1958. Also that year, she changed her surname from Schletz to Sommer, which was easier to pronounce for a non-German audience. She quickly became a noted sex symbol and moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s. She also became one of the most popular pin-up girls of the time, and posed for several pictorials in Playboy magazine, including the September 1964 and December 1967 issues. Sommer became one of the top film actresses of the 1960s. She made just shy of 100 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005, including 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 The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz. 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. 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 1973 and 1980, when Peter Marshall was its "Square-Master", or host. Sommer's films during the 1970s included the thriller Zeppelin, in which she co-starred with Michael York, and a remake of Agatha Christie's frequently filmed 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. The latter was subsequently re-edited (with 1975 footage inserted) to make a different film called House of Exorcism. 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.[2] She became the Carry On films' joint highest-paid performer, at £30,000; this was an honor that she shared with Phil Silvers (who starred in Follow That Camel). Most of her movie work during the decade came in European films. After the 1979 comedy The Prisoner of Zenda, which reunited her with Sellers, the actress did virtually no more acting in Hollywood films, concentrating more on her artwork. She provided the voice for Yzma in the German release of The Emperor's New Groove. Sommer also performed as a singer, recording and releasing several albums. Description above from the Wikipedia article Elke Sommer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Maria Gambrelli
A Shot in the Dark
Jutta
Alles nur Tarnung
Helga
The Victors
Linka Karensky
The Wrecking Crew
Countess Montparnasse
The Prisoner of Zenda
Inger Lisa Andersson
The Prize
Vera Clyde
And Then There Were None
Lisa Reiner
Lisa e il diavolo
Eva Arnold
Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga
Irma Eckman
Deadlier Than the Male
Lou Parker
Niemand weint für immer
Annie Dillman
Unter Geiern
Self
Elke Sommer erzählt...
Rita Jensen
The Swiss Conspiracy
Lisa Baron
The Money Trap
Didi
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
Professor Anna Vooshka (archive footage)
That's Carry On!
Erika Altschul
Zeppelin
Ulla (segment "Il Trattato di Eugenetica")
Le Bambole
Professor Anna Vooshka
Carry On Behind
Rebecca Wayne
The Fantastic Seven
Kay Bergdahl
The Oscar
Helga
Percy
Clarissa
Percy's Progress
Prime Minister Kura
The Double McGuffin
Giulia Giommarelli
Urlatori Alla Sbarra
Olga
Bahía de Palma
Self
US Against the World
Miss Pelham
A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
Self
Training Your Best Friend
Nikki Dunnay
The Art of Love
Alicia Braun
Lily in Love
Ann Bennett
Las Vegas: 500 millones
Chris Hartman
The Astral Factor
Herself
Hotel der toten Gäste
Perrone's Secretary
Pronto ad uccidere
Brigitte
Les Bricoleurs
Mrs. von Korff
Ewig rauschen die Gelder
Kris Patterson
Der Stein des Todes
Christa Sonntag
Das Netz
Heideline 'Uli' Ullman
Probe
Elke
Douce violence
(archive)
Twisted Sex Vol. 5
Miezi
Einer von uns beiden
self
The Curious Case of Inspector Clouseau
Daniella
De quoi tu te mêles Daniela!
The Last Days of Sharon Tate
Ingrid
Don't Bother to Knock
Eva Gruenberg
Jenny's War
Singer
… denn die Musik und die Liebe in Tirol
Barbara Shadwell
Geliebte Hochstaplerin
Ellen
Am Tag, als der Regen kam
Sandra Fane
The Venetian Affair
Frau Lust
Flashback - Mörderische Ferien
Lisa Reiner
The House of Exorcism
Toni Simon
Die Reise nach Wien
Mylène Loureau
Das Totenschiff
Magdalene Kruschen
I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses
Helga Münzel
Himmelsheim
Frau Lachmann
Der Mann im Pyjama
Eva
Himmel, Amor und Zwirn
Evelyne
Lampenfieber
Britta
Und sowas nennt sich Leben
Renate Hecker
Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt
Sylvia
Café Oriental
Herself
Tausend Takte Übermut
Suzy Dalton
Auf Wiedersehen
Eva
Verführung am Meer
Paula Schultz
The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz
Lilly Mancini
Die Hölle von Macao
Saffo, venere di Lesbo
Andrea Paretti
Nicht mit uns
Eva Heggener
The Top of the Hill
Rossana
La Pica sul Pacifico
Greta
Intrigo a Taormina
Elke Sommer / Maria Poppenini
The Jack Benny Hour
Ariane
Un chien dans un jeu de quilles
Maria Rüppel
Reblaus
Helena Harrison
Severed Ties
Alfis Mutter
Das Leben ist zu lang
Self
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: The World's Most Exotic Vacation Resorts
Mabel Meyer
Nachts ging das Telefon
Herself
Hollywood Ghost Stories
Frau Lorenz
Doppeltes Spiel mit Anne
Elsa
One Away
Zari
The Invincible Six
Perlico - Perlaco
Billie Dawn
Nicht von gestern
Greta
L'amico del giaguaro
Ursula
Jamaican Gold
Elle
Le Chien
Giulia Cesari
Ragazzi del Juke-Box
Caterina
Uomini e nobiluomini
Self (archive footage)
Albert Speer und der Traum von Hollywood
Self - Actress
Sunset Boulevard - 27 Meilen Amerika
Self
Mario Bava: Operazione paura
Professor Anna Vooshka (archive footage) (uncredited)
What's a Carry On?
Mondo Hollywood
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
98
Gender
Female
Birthday
1940-11-05
Place of Birth
Berlin, Germany
Also Known As