Antoinette Bower, the German-born British actress celebrated for her role as the seductive alien Sylvia in Star Trek: The Original Series and for appearing alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in Prom Night, has died at the age of 93. Her death was confirmed by her friend Carlotta Glackin, who is the great-niece of Golden Age actor Edward Everett Horton. Glackin stated that Bower passed away on April 30 at an Eagle Rock senior retirement home in Los Angeles. She also noted that actor William Shatner had emailed to offer his condolences, and that the late actress was still receiving fan mail from loyal Star Trek followers.
A Career Spanning Four Decades
Bower's showbiz career stretched across more than 40 years, commencing in television in 1958 when she relocated to Canada to pursue her acting ambitions. Upon joining the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), her earliest appearances included the made-for-TV film The Telltale Heart and an episode of The Unforeseen. Towards the end of the 1950s, she secured a recurring role in Hudson's Bay and featured in episodes of Heritage in 1960. That same year, she demonstrated her versatility by writing, producing, and narrating an hour-long profile of actor Barry Morse for CBC Radio.
Rise to Hollywood Prominence
Bower landed her first American series role in a 1961 episode of Hong Kong, after which she became a frequent presence on screens across the United States. Her Hollywood profile soared following an uncredited appearance in Marlon Brando's Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), with subsequent roles in Perry Mason, Mission: Impossible, Columbo, Kojak, and Murder, She Wrote. It was during this period that she took on the role of Sylvia in Star Trek: The Original Series' season 2 episode "Catspaw," shooting her scenes in 1967. In a previous interview, Star Trek assistant director Charles Washburn lauded Bower as the "most professional actress" he had worked with throughout the production.
Film Career and Later Work
Venturing into film over the following two decades, Bower appeared in Death of Innocence (1971), Die Sister, Die! (1978), The Cowboy and the Ballerina (1984), The Evil That Men Do (1984), and Club Paradise (1986). In a fitting full-circle moment, she brought her extensive performing career to a close by heading back to Canada and joining the cast of Neon Rider for three seasons from 1990 to 1993. Bower stepped away from acting following Neon Rider, yet roughly 10 years ago she wrapped up work on a documentary centred on Canadian chuckwagon racing, having devoted several summers to the subject, personally handling the shooting, editing, and narration of the project herself.
