Pink Panther star Elke Sommer has died at the age of 85.

The German actress passed away "peacefully" from heart failure at her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday (28.10.26), her stepson Sebastian Walther revealed.

Walther told German outlet Bild: "Elke passed away peacefully around 10pm."

Elke's passing - a week before her 86th birthday - comes just three months after Wolf Walther, her husband of 32 years, died of cancer.

Sebastian said: "Now she can finally be with her beloved husband again."

Elke was one of Germany's best-known actresses during the 1960s and she appeared in the Pink Panther film A Shot in the Dark opposite Peter Sellers in 1964.

She played the character of Maria Gambrelli, a murder suspect that Inspector Clouseau (Sellers) wants to prove innocent.

In addition to A Shot in the Dark, Sommer starred alongside Paul Newman in the 1963 flick The Prize - with her portrayal of Inger Lisa Andersson, a chaperone for Nobel Prize winner Andrew Craig (Newman), earning her a Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer.

Other notable roles included the Bob Hope comedy Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! and the 1975 film Carry On Behind - from the legendary British Carry On comedy series.

Away from acting, Elke became a pin-up and posed for Playboy magazine on multiple occasions during the 1960s.

She previously spoke of how she often turned down roles because she was holding out for a dream part.

Elke said in a 2014 interview: "I am dreaming of a role that's really different.

"I would love to play an old hooker or a toothless street person. When this dream part comes along, I will shout it from the mountaintops.

"Until then, I can finally enjoy what I have, time with my husband and with our dog and my beautiful houses here in Beverly Hills and in Germany - life in a pure and unobstructed form."

Sommer was married twice during her life, with her first husband being Hollywood columnist Joe Hyams - to whom she was wed from 1964 to 1981.

She then met Walther in New York after being cast in the play Tamara in 1989.

Elke once recalled: "For him, it was love at first sight. For me, it took a little longer, but not much longer.

"As you may know, Tamara is a play in which the audience follows the actor of their choice, and as you may know, my husband is 6'5'' and hard to miss.

"I saw him every night in the audience, following me. Every night. And that was the beginning of the greatest love story of my life, still unfolding and getting better by the day."