Elke Sommer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Elke Sommer
Sommer in 1965
Born	Elke Schletz (1940-11-05) 5 November 1940 (age 84) Berlin, German Reich
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	1959–present
Spouse(s)	Joe Hyams ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1993)​ Wolf Walther ​ ​ (m. 1993)​

Elke Sommer (born Elke Schletz, 5 November 1940) is a famous German actress. She also sings! She starred in many movies during the 1960s and 1970s. Some of her well-known films include A Shot in the Dark (1964), a funny movie with Bob Hope called Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), and the mystery film And Then There Were None (1974). She also appeared in the British comedy series Carry On in the movie Carry On Behind (1975).

Early Life

Elke Sommer was born in Berlin, Germany. Her father, Baron Peter von Schletz, was a Lutheran minister, which means he was a religious leader in a Christian church. Her mother was Renata Topp.

During the Second World War, in 1942, her family moved to a small village called Niederndorf. This village was near a university town in Germany called Erlangen. Elke went to a special high school there that prepared students for university.

When she was 14 years old, her father passed away. After finishing her high school studies, she moved to the UK. She worked as an au pair, which is someone who lives with a family and helps with childcare and housework. This helped her earn money and practice her English. She also learned how to be an interpreter, someone who translates between languages.

Career

How She Was Discovered

Elke Sommer was on holiday in Italy when a famous film director, Vittorio De Sica, noticed her. This led to her starting her acting career in Italian films in 1958. In the same year, she changed her last name from Schletz to Sommer. In the early 1960s, she moved to Hollywood, USA, to act in more movies.

Her Big Years: The 1960s

Elke Sommer became one of the most popular film actresses in the 1960s. Between 1959 and 2005, she appeared in 99 films and TV shows! She often played the main female character.

Some of her notable films from this time include:

• A Shot in the Dark (1964) with Peter Sellers.
• The Art of Love (1965) with James Garner.
• Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) with Bob Hope.
• The Wrecking Crew (1968) with Dean Martin.

Sommer (right) with Mexican actress Silvia Pinal in the Italian film Men and Noblemen (1959)

In 1964, she won a Golden Globe award. This award was for "Most Promising Newcomer Actress" for her role in the film The Prize. In this movie, she starred alongside famous actors Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.

Elke Sommer was also a frequent guest on television shows. She sang and performed in funny skits on The Dean Martin Show and Bob Hope specials. She appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ten times and was a regular guest on the game show Hollywood Squares.

Movies and Music: The 1970s

In the 1970s, Elke Sommer continued to make movies. She starred in the thriller Zeppelin with Michael York. She also appeared in a 1974 remake of Agatha Christie's mystery Ten Little Indians.

In 1972, she acted in two Italian horror films directed by Mario Bava: Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil. Later, parts of Lisa and the Devil were changed and new scenes were added to create a different film called House of Exorcism.

In 1975, she was cast in the British comedy Carry On Behind. She played a character named Professor Vrooshka. She was paid £30,000 for this role, making her one of the highest-paid actors in the Carry On series at that time!

Most of her film work in the 1970s was in European movies. After a comedy film in 1979 called The Prisoner of Zenda, she mostly stopped acting in Hollywood films. She started to focus more on her artwork.

Elke Sommer also had a singing career and released several music albums.

Later Work and Art

In the 1980s, Elke Sommer hosted a TV show called The Exciting World of Speed and Beauty.

After the 1990s, she spent more time painting than acting. She had worked in many different countries and learned seven languages! This helped her gather ideas and images that she used in her paintings. Her artwork shows a strong influence from the famous artist Marc Chagall.

In 2001, Elke Sommer received a special honor: a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. This is like a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but in Palm Springs.

She also provided the voice for the character Yzma in the German version of the Disney movie The Emperor's New Groove.

Personal Life

Sommer in 2018

In 1964, Elke Sommer married Hollywood writer Joe Hyams in Las Vegas. They later divorced.

She then met Wolf Walther, who was the manager of a fancy hotel in New York City called Essex House. They got married on 29 August 1993 in Germany.

In an interview from 2014, Elke Sommer shared how she and Wolf Walther met. She was acting in a play in New York City and needed to stay there for four months. She was looking for an apartment but found them too expensive and noisy. She decided to talk to the hotel manager about renting a room. That's when she met Wolf Walther, the new manager. She said that for him, it was love at first sight! She joked that her husband is very tall, so he was easy to spot in the audience every night, following her character in the play. She called it "the beginning of the greatest love story of my life."

As of May 2017, Elke Sommer was living in Los Angeles, California.

Selected Films

See also

In Spanish: Elke Sommer para niños