German actress Elke Sommer has passed away at the age of 85 at her home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California. According to reports from the news outlet RaiNews, the death occurred on Wednesday, October 28 due to heart failure, with the news being made public after one day. Her passing follows three months after that of her husband Wolf Walther, who died at age 77 in July.

Born Elke Schletz and the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, the artist was discovered in Italy at the end of the 1950s. After being elected Miss Viareggio, she was noticed by director Vittorio De Sica, who took her to Rome for a screen test. Her film debut came in 1958 with the film The Friend of the Jaguar (L'amico del giaguaro), directed by Giuseppe Bennati, an occasion on which she chose the surname Sommer.

In the 1960s she moved to the United States, achieving considerable popularity on the Hollywood scene. Her fame grew in 1963 thanks to Mark Robson's The Prize (Intrigo a Stoccolma), a role that earned her the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Female. The following year she starred in Blake Edwards' famous comedy A Shot in the Dark, alongside Peter Sellers, consolidating her profile in several commercial films.

During the following decade she returned to sets in Italy, working with Mario Bava on the horror films Baron Blood (Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga), Lisa and the Devil (Lisa e il diavolo), and The House of Exorcism (La casa dell'esorcismo). Her career includes appearances in international feature films such as Zeppelin, And Then There Were None (...e poi, non ne rimase nessuno), and The Prisoner of Zenda (Il prigioniero di Zenda), which marked her lasting presence on the world cinematic scene.