Maria Gambrelli is the beautiful maid for the Ballon family that first appeared in A Shot In The Dark. In the movie, she was framed by the killers for the murder of Miguel Ostos, the chauffeur. Like Clouseau, she has an unfortunate aptitude for being in the wrong place at the right time. Towards the end of the film she begins a sexual affair with him. Clouseau is determined to prove her innocence, against all logic. Her son is Jacques Gambrelli, as seen on Son of the Pink Panther. Ironically, at the end of the film franchise she marries Dreyfus, who had previously continually tried to prove her guilt. She is played by Elke Sommer in A Shot in the Dark and Claudia Cardinale in Son of the Pink Panther.