Golden Globe-Winning Actress Elke Sommer Dies at 85

German actress Elke Sommer died of heart failure at her Bel Air home in Los Angeles on October 28, aged 85. She was best known to many audiences as Maria Gambrelli opposite Peter Sellers in the 1964 Pink Panther comedy A Shot in the Dark, and won a Golden Globe for her role in The Prize. Her career spanned nearly six decades and about 100 film and television productions, including The Wrecking Crew, The Art of Love and Carry On Behind; she later worked in European films and pursued painting. Sommer initially hoped to become an interpreter and spoke six languages before a beauty-pageant win in Italy led her to acting. Her husband of 32 years, Wolf Walther, died about three months before her, and friends said her health declined after his death; she is expected to be laid to rest with him in Bavaria.