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This gorgeous Teutonic temptress was one of Hollywood's most captivating imports of the 1960s. Blonde and beautiful, Berlin-born Elke Sommer, with her trademark pouty lips, high cheek bones and sky-hi
gh bouffant hair-dos, proved irresistible to American audiences whether adorned in lace or leather, or donning lingerie or lederhosen.
She was born in Berlin-Spandau on November 5, 1940 with the unlikely name of Else Schletz-Ho to a Lutheran minister and his wife. The family was forced to evacuate to Erlangen during WWII in 1942, a small university town in the southern region of Germany. It was here that her parents first introduced her to water colors and her life-long passion for painting was ignited. Her father's death in 1955 when she was only 14 interrupted her education and she relocated to Great Britain where she learned English and made ends meet as an au pair.
She eventually attended college back in Germany and entertained plans to become a diplomatic translator, but instead decided to try modeling. After winning a beauty title ("Miss Viareggio Turistica") while on vacation in Italy, she caught the attention of renowned film actor/director Vittorio De Sica and began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature Uomini e nobiluomini (1959). Following a few more Italian pictures, which included her first starring role in Femmine di lusso (1960) Elke began making a name for herself in German films as well and gradually upgraded her status to European sex symbol. A pin-up favorite, she appeared fetchingly in both dramas and comedies including her first English-speaking picture Don't Bother to Knock (1961) to her credit.
Hollywood naturally became intrigued and she moved there in the early 1960s to try and tap into the foreign-born market. Her sexy innocence made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama The Victors (1963), the Hitchcock-like thriller The Prize (1963), for which she won a "Best Newcomer" Golden Globe Award, and especially A Shot in the Dark (1964), the classic bumbling comedy where she proved a shady and sexy foil to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clousseau. She grew in celebrity, which was certainly helped after showing off her physical assets posing for spreads in Playboy Magazine. In the meantime she was appearing opposite the hunkiest of Hollywood actors including Paul Newman, James Garner, Glenn Ford and Stephen Boyd.
Elke did well on TV as well. A delightful personality on the talk show circuit, the lovely Elke also made appearances as a cabaret singer and in time put out several albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as "Irma la Douce," "Born Yesterday," "Cactus Flower," "Woman of the Year" and "Same Time, Next Year".
The veteran actress has since focused more on book writing and painting than she has on acting. Holding her first one-woman art show at the McKenzie Galleries in Beverly Hills in 1965, her artwork bears an exceptionally strong influence to Marc Chagall and she at one point hosted a mid-80s PBS series ("Painting with Elke") that centered on her artwork, which has now exhibited and sold for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, on occasion she tackles an acting role, often in her native Germany.
Elke Sommer mini-bio: 
