‘Pink Panther’ Star Elke Sommer Dead at 85

Actress Elke Sommer — best known for her sexy role as Maria Gambrelli in Peter Sellers’ “Pink Panther” franchise — has died one week before her 86th birthday, according to a new report.

Sommer’s stepson, Sebastian Walther, told German news outlet Bild that Sommer died from heart failure Wednesday at her home in Bel Air, a ritzy neighborhood in Los Angeles. Sebastian also said Sommer’s husband, Wolf Walther, died three months earlier after losing his battle with cancer.

Born in Berlin, Germany, Sommer spent nearly 6 decades as a Hollywood actress, kicking off her successful movie career in the 1960s with her most famous role as Gambrelli in the 1964 “Pink Panther” sequel, “A Shot In The Dark,” starring Peter Sellers.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Sommer starred in many other films with major stars such as James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Stephen Boyd, Paul Newman, and Edward G. Robinson.

She also landed parts in many top TV shows and TV movies such as “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “St. Elsewhere,” and “Inside the Third Reich.”

During the ’80’s, she also got into a nasty feud with fellow actress Zsa Zsa Gabor after they worked together on “Circus of the Stars.” Sommer ended up suing Zsa Zsa and her husband for defamation and winning $3.3 million in damages after the couple soiled her good name in published interviews.

Her final credit was the 2017 animated short, “A Thousand Kisses,” where she was the voice of Nette.

Sommer was 85.