German-born British actress Antoinette Bower, best known for playing the seductive, catlike alien Sylvia in Star Trek: The Original Series and appearing in The Twilight Zone, has died at the age of 93. Her death was confirmed by her friend, Carlotta Glackin, the great niece of Golden Age actor Edward Everett Horton. Bower died on April 30 in an Eagle Rock retirement home in Los Angeles, Glackin told The Hollywood Reporter.
Career Beginnings in Canada
Bower's career spanned four decades, beginning in television in 1958 when she moved to Canada to pursue acting. Her earliest roles included the made-for-TV film The Telltale Heart and an episode of The Unforeseen. In the late 1950s, she secured a recurring role in Hudson's Bay and appeared in episodes of Heritage in 1960. That year, she also wrote, produced, and narrated an hour-long profile of actor Barry Morse for CBC Radio.
Transition to American Television
Bower landed her first American series role in a 1961 episode of Hong Kong, after which she frequently guest-starred on U.S. television. Her credits included major projects such as Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, and the mini-series The Thorn Birds. She played Sylvia in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2 episode Catspaw, filming her scenes in 1967.
Film Roles and Later Career
Branching out into film over the next 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). She also starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1980 mystery slasher film Prom Night. In a full-circle moment, she completed her performing career by returning to Canada and joining the cast of Neon Rider for three seasons from 1990 to 1993.
