Elke Sommer
Encyclopedia
Elke Sommer born Baroness Elke Schletz, is a German actress, entertainer and artist
.
to a Lutheran
minister and his wife. After World War II
, the family was evacuated to Erlangen
, a small university town in Southern Germany
, where, despite their lack of money, she attended the prestigious Gymnasium
(high school) in Erlangen. However her father's death when she was 14 precluded further formal education, and she moved to England
to be an au pair
, to perfect her English and earn a living.
She was spotted by film director Vittorio De Sica
whilst on holiday in Italy, and started appearing in films there in the late 1950s. 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 girl
s of the time, and posed for several pictorials in Playboy
Magazine (September 1964 and December 1967).
She became one of the top movie actresses of the 1960s and made 99 movie and television appearances between 1959 and 2005, including A Shot in the Dark
(1964) with Peter Sellers
as Inspector Clouseau
, The Art of Love (1965) with James Garner
and Dick Van Dyke
, The Oscar
(1966) with Stephen Boyd
, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
(1966) with Bob Hope
, the Bulldog Drummond
extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male
(1966), and The Wrecking Crew
(1969) with Dean Martin
; Sommer was the leading lady in each of these films.
In 1964, she won the Golden Globe Awards as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for The Prize, a film she co-starred with Paul Newman
and Edward G. Robinson
.
In 1972, she starred in two Italian horror movies directed by Mario Bava
, which have both become cult classics Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil. The latter film was never theatrically distributed in its original form; it was later re-edited (with 1975 footage inserted) to make a very different movie called House of Exorcism
(an Exorcist rip-off). Elke went back to Italy to star in the additional scenes that were inserted into the movie by its producer, against the wishes of the director.
In 1975, Peter Rogers
cast her in Carry On Behind
as the Russian Professor Vrooshka. She became the Carry On
s highest paid performer, at £30,000 (an honour shared with Phil Silvers
for Follow That Camel
).
Sommer also performed successfully as a singer, making several albums.
. Sommer had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor
that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars
and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993.
She now lives in Los Angeles
, California
and has no children.
(1963) The Prize (1963) A Shot in the Dark
(1964) Among Vultures
(1964) Le bambole
(1965) UK title: Four Kinds of Love 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 Wrecking Crew
(1969)
Zeppelin
(1971)
Ten Little Indians (1975)
Carry On Behind
(1975)
The Swiss Conspiracy
(1976)
I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (1978)
The Prisoner of Zenda
(1979)
Der Mann im Pyjama
(1981)
Lily in Love
(1984)
Jenny's War
(1985)
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
.
Career
Sommer was born in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to a Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
minister and his wife. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the family was evacuated to Erlangen
Erlangen
Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....
, a small university town in Southern Germany
Southern Germany
The term Southern Germany is used to describe a region in the south of Germany. There is no specific boundary to the region, but it usually includes all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and the southern part of Hesse...
, where, despite their lack of money, she attended the prestigious Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
(high school) in Erlangen. However her father's death when she was 14 precluded further formal education, and she moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to be an au pair
Au pair
An au pair is a domestic assistant from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a small monetary allowance for personal use...
, to perfect her English and earn a living.
She was spotted by film director Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
whilst on holiday in Italy, and started appearing in films there in the late 1950s. She quickly became a noted sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
and moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s. She also became one of the most popular pin-up girl
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
s of the time, and posed for several pictorials in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
Magazine (September 1964 and December 1967).
She became one of the top movie actresses of the 1960s and made 99 movie and television appearances between 1959 and 2005, including A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)
A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté...
(1964) with Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
as Inspector Clouseau
Inspector Clouseau
Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther series. In most of the films, he was played by Peter Sellers, with one film in which he was played by Alan Arkin and one in which he was played by an uncredited Roger Moore...
, The Art of Love (1965) with James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
and Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke, and father of Barry Van Dyke...
, The Oscar
The Oscar (film)
The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film, written by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse and Richard Sale, directed by Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, singer Tony Bennett , comedian Milton Berle , Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Jill St. John, and Eleanor Parker...
(1966) with Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd was an Irish actor, from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in around 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in Ben-Hur.-Biography:...
, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! is a 1966 American comedy film starring Bob Hope and Elke Sommer.- Plot :A gorgeous actress named Didi has become more famous for commercials involving bubble baths than for acting...
(1966) with Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, the Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character, created by "Sapper", a pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile , and the hero of a series of novels published from 1920 to 1954.- Drummond :...
extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male
Deadlier Than the Male
Deadlier Than the Male is a 1967 British action film featuring the character of Bulldog Drummond. It is one of the many take-offs of James Bond produced during the 1960s but based on an established detective fiction hero...
(1966), and The Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew (1969 film)
The Wrecking Crew, released in 1969 and starring Dean Martin, Elke Sommer, and Sharon Tate is the fourth and final film in a series of American comedy-spy-fi theatrical releases featuring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm....
(1969) with Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
; Sommer was the leading lady in each of these films.
In 1964, she won the Golden Globe Awards as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for The Prize, a film she co-starred with Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
.
In 1972, she starred in two Italian horror movies directed by Mario Bava
Mario Bava
Mario Bava was an Italian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer remembered as one of the greatest names from the "golden age" of Italian horror films.-Biography:Mario Bava was born in San Remo, Liguria, Italy...
, which have both become cult classics Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil. The latter film was never theatrically distributed in its original form; it was later re-edited (with 1975 footage inserted) to make a very different movie called House of Exorcism
Lisa and the Devil
Lisa and the Devil is a 1972 Italian horror film directed by Mario Bava. The film has developed a cult following among fans of European horror, it is particularly praised by fans of Mario Bava. Like most of Bava's films Lisa and the Devil possesses inventively stylish direction and evokes an...
(an Exorcist rip-off). Elke went back to Italy to star in the additional scenes that were inserted into the movie by its producer, against the wishes of the director.
In 1975, Peter Rogers
Peter Rogers
Peter Rogers was a British film producer.Rogers began his career as a journalist for his local paper before graduating to scriptwriting religious informational films...
cast her in Carry On Behind
Carry On Behind
Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...
as the Russian Professor Vrooshka. She became the Carry On
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
s highest paid performer, at £30,000 (an honour shared with Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S...
for Follow That Camel
Follow That Camel
Follow That Camel is the fourteenth Carry On film and was released in 1967. Like its predecessor Don't Lose Your Head, it does not have the words "Carry On" in its original title...
).
Sommer also performed successfully as a singer, making several albums.
Later career
Since the 1990s, she has concentrated more on painting than on acting. As an actress, she worked in half a dozen countries learning the languages (she speaks seven languages) and storing up images which she would later express on canvas. Her artwork shows a strong influence from Marc ChagallMarc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
. Sommer had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...
that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...
and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993.
She now lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and has no children.
Selected filmography
The Victors (film)
-Overview:The film follows a group of U.S. soldiers through Europe during World War II, from Britain in 1942, through the fierce fighting in Italy and France, to the uneasy peace of Berlin. It is adapted from a collection of short stories called The Human Kind by British author Alexander Baron,...
(1963) The Prize (1963) A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)
A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté...
(1964) Among Vultures
Among Vultures
Among Vultures is a 1964 Western film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Stewart Granger, Pierre Brice, Elke Sommer and Götz George. An American frontiersman Old Surehand and his Apache companion Winnetou expose a criminal gang who are murdering settlers and laying the blame on the local...
(1964) Le bambole
Le bambole
Le bambole is a 1965 Italian comedy film in four segments; cast includes Virna Lisi, Nino Manfredi, Gina Lollobrigida, Elke Sommer and Monica Vitti...
(1965) UK title: Four Kinds of Love The Art of Love (1965) The Money Trap
The Money Trap
The Money Trap is a 1965 drama film starring Glenn Ford , Elke Sommer and Rita Hayworth and directed by Burt Kennedy.-Plot:Joe Baron is a cop with financial troubles because of his wife Lisa's constant spending. One day, a burglar is reported shot at the home of a doctor...
(1965) The Oscar
The Oscar (film)
The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film, written by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse and Richard Sale, directed by Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, singer Tony Bennett , comedian Milton Berle , Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Jill St. John, and Eleanor Parker...
(1966)
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! is a 1966 American comedy film starring Bob Hope and Elke Sommer.- Plot :A gorgeous actress named Didi has become more famous for commercials involving bubble baths than for acting...
(1966)
The Venetian Affair (film)
The Venetian Affair is a 1967 spy film directed by Jerry Thorpe. It stars Robert Vaughn and Elke Sommer and is based on a novel by Helen MacInnes...
(1967)
The Peking Medallion
The Peking Medallion, also called The Corrupt Ones, is a 1967 crime film directed by James Hill and Frank Winterstein and starring Elke Sommer, Robert Stack, Nancy Kwan and Werner Peters. The film was a co-production between France, Italy and West Germany although it was shot in English...
(1967)
Deadlier Than the Male
Deadlier Than the Male is a 1967 British action film featuring the character of Bulldog Drummond. It is one of the many take-offs of James Bond produced during the 1960s but based on an established detective fiction hero...
(1967)
The Wrecking Crew (1969 film)
The Wrecking Crew, released in 1969 and starring Dean Martin, Elke Sommer, and Sharon Tate is the fourth and final film in a series of American comedy-spy-fi theatrical releases featuring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm....
(1969)
Zeppelin (film)
Zeppelin is a 1971 British World War I action/drama film of a fictitious German attempt to raid Great Britain in a giant Zeppelin and steal the Magna Carta from its hiding place in one of Scotland's castles...
(1971)
Carry On Behind
Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...
(1975)
The Swiss Conspiracy
The Swiss Conspiracy is a 1976 action film starring David Janssen, Senta Berger and Elke Sommer, directed by Jack Arnold. It was co-produced between Germany and the United States.-Plot summary:...
(1976)
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend his own coronation. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his...
(1979)
Der Mann im Pyjama
Der Mann im Pyjama is a German comedy film starring Otto Sander and Elke Sommer. The film won the Ernst Lubitsch Award for best actor ....
(1981)
Lily in Love
Lily in Love is a 1984 Hungarian-American co-production in English language based on a play by Ferenc Molnár, starring Christopher Plummer, Maggie Smith and Elke Sommer...
(1984)
Jenny's War
.Jenny's War is a 1985 war telelvision serial set during World War II, made by HTV in association with Columbia Pictures. It is directed by and written by Steve Gethers. The screenplay is based on the novel with the same name of Jack Stoneley...
(1985)