Elke Sommer

Acting

Elke Sommer

Born 1940-11-05 · Berlin, Germany

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.

Acting credits

A Shot in the Dark poster
7.2

Inspector Jacques Clouseau, smitten with the accused maid Maria Gambrelli, unwittingly turns a straightforward murder investigation into a comedic series of mishaps, testing the patience of his irritable boss Charles Dreyfus as casualties mount.

A Shot in the Dark

1964

The Prisoner of Zenda poster
5.7

Anthony Hope's classic tale gets a decidedly 'un-classic' treatment at the hands of Peter Sellers. Following the story somewhat, friends of the new King Rudolph of Ruritania fear for his life, and switch him with a look-a-like London cabby. Throw in two(!) lovely blondes, treachery, and a battle for life and honour, and enjoy life at its zaniest.

The Prisoner of Zenda

1979

The Wrecking Crew poster
5.7

When Count Contini attempts to destroy the world's economy by masterminding the theft of $1 billion in U.S. gold, ICE chief MacDonald summons secret agent Matt Helm to stop him.

The Wrecking Crew

1968

Frontier Hellcat poster
6.4

Outlaws disguised as Indians commit crimes against settlers but Winnetou and Old Surehand are determined to unmask the bandits and keep the peace. Alternate English Title: Amongst Vultures.

Frontier Hellcat

1964

And Then There Were None poster
5.7

Ten people are invited to a hotel in the Iranian desert, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. Could one of them be the killer?

And Then There Were None

1974

The Prize poster
6.7

A group of Nobel laureates descends on Stockholm to accept their awards. Among them is American novelist Andrew Craig, a former literary luminary now writing pulp detective stories to earn a living. Craig, who is infamous for his drinking and womanizing, formulates a wild theory that physics prize winner Dr. Max Stratman has been replaced by an impostor, embroiling Craig and his chaperone in a Cold War kidnapping plot.

The Prize

1963

The Oscar poster
5.1

An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win.

The Oscar

1966

The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz poster
3.9

A beautiful East German Olympic hopeful pole-vaults over the Berlin Wall to freedom.

The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz

1968

The Victors poster
6.3

Intercutting dramatic vignettes with newsreel footage, the story follows the characters from an infantry squad as they make their way from Sicily to Germany during the end of World War II.

The Victors

1963

Lisa and the Devil poster
6.2

Lisa is a tourist in an ancient city. When she gets lost, she finds an old mansion in which to shelter. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil presided over by housekeeper Leandre.

Lisa and the Devil

1974

Baron Blood poster
6.1

A young man, Peter, returns to Austria in search of his heritage. There he visits the castle of an ancestor, a sadistic Baron who was cursed to a violent death by a witch whom the Baron had burned at the stake. Peter reads aloud the incantation that causes Baron Blood to return and continue his murderous tortures.

Baron Blood

1972

The Art of Love poster
5.5

Struggling artist fakes his own death so his works will increase in value.

The Art of Love

1965

Jamaican Gold poster
5.8

A chance meeting leads two former college friends into a search for sunken treasure, a search which involves them with the double dealing Landers, supporter of their expedition treasures is discovered, but Landers traps them in an underwater cave.

Jamaican Gold

1979

Jenny's War poster
6.0

This fact-based story follows a woman who launches a rescue of her Royal Air Force pilot son, who was shot down over Germany in 1941. Getting no help from the underground, she sets up her own rescue mission.

Jenny's War

1985

Deadlier Than the Male poster
5.9

British agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.

Deadlier Than the Male

1967

Who Stole the Body? poster
7.0

Edouard and Félix work in a real estate agency. One day, they are threatened with dismissal if they don't manage to sell a very isolated house to an elderly, silver and somewhat unusual Englishwoman. In the house, they discover a corpse. The visit is spent dragging the corpse from room to room, cupboard to chest, so as not to frighten the otherwise impressed buyer. But the corpse disappears. He has to be found before the deed can be signed. The two salesmen become detectives, tracking down the dead man's many female acquaintances. All the seducer's conquests are sifted through, to find the one who left her jewels at the scene of the crime.

Who Stole the Body?

1963

Alles nur Tarnung poster
4.0

After trying to smuggle a package into prison for his father Willi, Harry and his girlfriend Marlies also end up in jail. While Harry is billeted with Daddy, Marlies is housed just one floor up in the cell of the ageing prostitute Jutta. With Christmas just around the corner, the four of them join forces and plan to break through to their cells to celebrate a lavish party with a can of homemade schnapps.

Alles nur Tarnung

1996

Lily in Love poster
6.3

Insulted when his screenwriter wife writes a leading role for a younger man, aging Broadway idol Fitz Wynn disguises himself as a handsome young Italian.

Lily in Love

1984

Auf Wiedersehen poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Auf Wiedersehen

1961

They Came to Rob Las Vegas poster
5.9

After successfully assaulting an armored car between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the ambitions of the diverse members of the intrepid criminal gang collide, causing undesirable consequences.

They Came to Rob Las Vegas

1968

That's Carry On! poster
5.8

Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films, two of the films’ best-loved stars, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood film studios to unwrap some rib-tickling moments from the series. From the original, military mayhem of Carry On Sergeant, through to the really ancient archaeological gags of Carry On Behind, our saucy hosts get their titters out for this laugh-a-second gallop through the most successful series of British comedy films ever made.

That's Carry On!

1977

Bahía de Palma poster
9.0

Mario starts working as a pianist in a party hall in Palma de Mallorca, where he finds two girls, an old pupil, and Clara, who will get to conquer him.

Bahía de Palma

1962

Howlers of the Dock poster
5.1

Follows the adventures of a group of friends, teddy boys and rock and roll chicks whose crazy, fun-loving habits inspire jiving from some of Rome's citizens, and bitter complants from others which inspire a group of corrupt officials determined to a bring the group down.

Howlers of the Dock

1960

Love, the Italian Way poster
4.4

A group of passengers traveling around the Mediterranean on a luxury liner enjoy various adventures and become romantically involved with each other.

Love, the Italian Way

1960