German actress Elke Sommer dies at 85 at her Bel Air home in Los Angeles

Death at her Bel Air home

German actress Elke Sommer died at the age of 85 at her home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, of heart failure, according to Bild, which cited her closest circle of friends. Blick, citing Bild, gives 28 October 2026 as the date of death. She had been bedridden for a long time beforehand, according to Bild. All of the accounts trace back to Bild. Der Standard placed her death shortly before her 86th birthday, which would have fallen on 5 November.

From Berlin to Hollywood

Born in Berlin in November 1940 as Elke Schletz, Sommer grew up in Erlangen, according to Berliner Zeitung. She appeared in more than 100 film and television roles from 1959 onwards. Her Hollywood breakthrough came in the 1960s with Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt, and in 1964 she received the Golden Globe for best newcomer for Der Preis. That same year she moved to Beverly Hills and married the journalist and writer Joe Hyams. She worked alongside Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellers, Sharon Tate and James Garner, and appeared in the Pink Panther comedy Ein Schuß im Dunkeln. Her last role, according to watson, came in 2010 in Das Leben ist zu lang, directed by the Swiss director Dani Levy. Later she appeared on screen far less often and took up painting.

Husband's death and final years

Her second husband, Wolf Walther, died on 22 July 2026 at the age of 77, according to Blick. For years the couple divided their time between a house in Marloffstein in Bavaria and Los Angeles, and in their final years they lived only in the United States, per Berliner Zeitung. Photographer and close friend Erwin Schenider told Bild shortly after her death that she could never have imagined life without Walther. He said her condition had steadily declined since his death and that she could now finally follow him.

Heart failure

The German Heart Foundation estimates that about four million people in Germany live with heart failure, a condition that often develops gradually after other illnesses. Michael Böhm of the internal medicine clinic at Saarland University Hospital, quoted in a German Heart Foundation brochure, said:

“Heart failure develops in about 70 percent of cases from coronary heart disease and high blood pressure.”

Böhm named smoking, an unhealthy diet, excess weight and lack of exercise as the risk factors behind both conditions. He called a change in lifestyle the best weapon against heart failure. The Swiss Heart Foundation offers a self-test with eight questions to help people decide whether to see a doctor.