Golden Globe winner and international sex symbol Elke Sommer \u2013 who was known for her on-screen affair with Jacques Clouseau in the \u201cPink Panther\u201d franchise \u2013 has died of heart failure \u2013 one week before her 86th birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sommer, 85, \u201cpassed away peacefully around 10 p.m\u201d Wednesday at her home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel Air, her stepson Sebastian Walther told the German outlet Bild<\/a>, and her death comes three months after her husband of 32 years Wolf Walther lost his battle with cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cNow she can finally be with her beloved husband again,\u201d Sebastian Walther added of the actress.<\/p>\n Golden Globe winner Elke Sommer has died age 85. Getty Images<\/p>\n Berlin-born Sommer\u2019s acting career spanned some 58 years \u2013 with her final credited acting role coming in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the actress stepped away from the spotlight in recent years and had become bed-bound in recent months before her death \u2013 which Bild reported as being from heart failure. She would\u2019ve turned 86 on Nov. 5.<\/p>\n Sommer was born in the Nazi Reich in November 1940 \u2013 a year after World War II began in Europe \u2013 and initially she wasn\u2019t thinking about pursuing a Hollywood career, according to Bild.<\/p>\n She wanted to become an interpreter and could speak six languages by the time she was in her teens.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, her acting break would come after she won the Italian beauty contest Miss Viareggio age 17 while she was on vacation in the Mediterranean country in 1958.\u00a0<\/p>\n She was spotted by the Italian director Vittorio De Sica before starring in Italian comedies \u2013 one of which was entitled \u201cMen and Noblemen.\u201d<\/p>\n She starred alongside Peter Sellers in \u201cA Shot in the Dark.\u201d United Artists\/Kobal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Sommer starred in several Italian and German movies in the early 1960s before landing a role in the Mark Robson-directed movie \u201cThe Prize\u201d \u2013 which starred Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.<\/p>\n She received a Golden Globe in 1964 where she was named Most Promising Newcomer.\u00a0<\/p>\n But one of the actress\u2019 most recognizable acting roles came in the 1964 comedy flick \u201cA Shot in the Dark\u201d \u2013 the second installment of the \u201cPink Panther\u201d film franchise.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sommer played the maid Maria Gambrelli who was framed for the murder of chauffeur Miguel Ostros before having a sexual affair with Inspector Jacques Clouseau \u2013 who was played by \u201cDr. Strangelove\u201d star Peter Sellers.\u00a0<\/p>\n She even declined to reprise her role in the 1993 movie \u201cSon of the Pink Panther\u201d because Sellers had already died, according to IMDB.<\/a> Sellers died in 1980.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sommer with her ex-husband, Joe Hyams, at the 40th Academy Awards. Getty Images<\/p>\n Sommer was also known for her roles in the Russell Rouse-directed movie \u201cThe Oscar\u201d and the 1968 movie \u201cThe Wrecking Crew\u201d \u2013 the latter featuring the \u201cKing of Cool\u201d Dean Martin.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t just make her name on the big screen. She featured in three Playboy shoots in September 1964, December 1967 and September 1970.<\/p>\n During a July 1969 interview with the National Police Gazette<\/a>, she admitted that she had painted naked on a hill outside her Beverly Hills home.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the best way to get a tan all over,\u201d she quipped according to the article, which described her as \u201cHollywood\u2019s No.1 nudie.\u201d<\/p>\n Away from the screen, Sommer was married twice. She tied the knot to famed Hollywood columnist Joe Hyams in 1964 \u2013 before they divorced in 1981.<\/p>\n Sommer was married to Wolf Walther for 32 years before his death in July. Getty Images<\/p>\n Hyams said his marriage was \u201cthe best 17 years of [his] life\u201d and had \u201cno regrets,\u201d it was reported by UPI<\/a> in December 1981.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were married 17 years ago, no one thought our marriage would last long,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n She met Wolf Walther, who would later become her husband of 32 years, in 1989 while she was being cast for the play \u201cTamara.\u201d<\/p>\n