Carry On actress Elke Sommer dies aged 85 just months after husband

Carry On actress Elke Sommer has died aged 85 (Picture: Action Press/Shutterstock)

Carry On star Elke Sommer has died aged 85, just three months after losing her beloved husband.

The German-American actress, who became a Hollywood sex symbol in the 1960s and starred alongside some of cinema’s biggest names, died at her Los Angeles home on Wednesday, October 28.

Her death comes just months after her husband of more than 30 years, Wolf Walther, died aged 77 in July.

According to German newspaper Bild, Sommer died of heart failure following a period of ill health.

Her longtime friend, photographer Erwin Schneider, said the actress had struggled following her husband’s death.

He explained that Sommer ‘could never have imagined a life without her beloved “Papa Bear,”‘ the affectionate nickname she used for Walther.

Schneider added that her health had deteriorated in the months since his death, saying he believed the actress could now finally be reunited with her husband.

The actress shot to fame as a model before making the leap to Hollywood (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)

Sommer, who would have celebrated her 86th birthday on November 5, enjoyed a glittering career spanning several decades.

Born Elke Schletz in Berlin in 1940, she moved to London as a teenager to work as an au pair before a chance encounter with a photographer while holidaying in Italy set her on the path to stardom.

After finding success as a model, including posing for Playboy, she became one of the most recognisable blonde bombshells of the era.

She played Professor Anna Vooshka in the 1975 comedy Carry On Behind (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

She made her mark in Hollywood opposite Paul Newman in the 1963 thriller The Prize, before starring alongside Peter Sellers in the 1964 Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark.

British audiences will perhaps remember her best for playing Professor Anna Vooshka in the 1975 comedy Carry On Behind, her only appearance in the beloved franchise.

Her other screen credits included The Wrecking Crew alongside Sharon Tate, the 1974 Agatha Christie adaptation Ten Little Indians, and the German-language version of Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove, in which she voiced villain Yzma.

Away from the screen, Sommer also became embroiled in one of Hollywood’s more extraordinary celebrity feuds with fellow actress Zsa Zsa Gabor.

The actress largely retired from Hollywood in the 1990s to pursue her passion for painting (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)

Their long-running dispute reportedly began with a misunderstanding involving a horse during the television special Circus of the Stars in 1984.

What might otherwise have remained a bizarre backstage spat eventually escalated into a bitter legal battle, with Sommer successfully suing Gabor and her husband, Frederick von Anhalt, for defamation.

In 1993, she was awarded $3.3million in damages.

Sommer gradually stepped away from acting in the 1990s, instead devoting much of her time to her other passion, painting.

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