Sternberg wrote an autobiography, "Fun in a Chinese Laundry" (1965); the title was drawn from an early film comedy. "Variety" described it as a "bitter reflection on how a master artisan can be ignored and bypassed by an art form to which he had contributed so much." He had a heart attack and was admitted to Midway Hospital Medical Center in Hollywood and died within a week on December 22, 1969, aged 75. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California near several film studios.