Antoinette Bower, the German-born British actress who became a science fiction favorite as the seductive shape-shifting alien Sylvia on “Star Trek” and as a stranded woman in a memorable Adam and Eve-inspired episode of “The Twilight Zone,” has died at the age of 93. Bower died April 30 at an assisted living facility in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles, her friend Carlotta Glackin confirmed, though news of her passing was not publicly reported until July 11, 2026.

A cause of death has not been disclosed. Glackin, a great-niece of famed Golden Age character actor Edward Everett Horton, said Bower was still receiving fan mail from loyal “Star Trek” followers decades after her single appearance on the series. Glackin said that actor William Shatner, who starred opposite Bower in that episode, sent his condolences after learning of her death.

A Sci-Fi Legacy in Two Iconic Roles

Bower earned her enduring place in genre history through two of television’s most celebrated anthology and adventure series. On “The Twilight Zone,” she portrayed Eve Norda in “Probe 7, Over and Out,” which premiered in November 1963 during the show’s fifth and final season. Written by Rod Serling and directed by Ted Post, the installment cast Bower as a woman stranded on a distant planet whose only companion is an astronaut named Adam Cook, played by Richard Basehart.

Four years later, she stunned audiences as the villainous Sylvia opposite Theo Marcuse’s Korob in the second-season “Star Trek” episode “Catspaw,” which aired in October 1967. Her character first appeared in human form as an attractive woman before transforming to reveal herself as an enormous feline extraterrestrial. Bower’s turn as the mysterious and powerful Sylvia became one of the series’ most memorable guest appearances.

From Refugee Aid Work to Hollywood

Antoinette Alexandra Jane Bower was born September 30, 1932, in Baden-Baden, Germany, to a German mother and an English father. Educated in England, she served in the late 1940s in language supervision and welfare counseling roles for the United Nations’ International Refugee Organization (IRO), an agency that helped relocate and support millions of displaced persons throughout Europe and Asia in the aftermath of World War II.

Bower returned to her family in Canada in 1953 and secured employment in Toronto with the fledgling Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), handling public affairs work, writing scripts and hosting live television interviews. She also began acting, appearing in a 1958 television adaptation of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and on the syndicated series “Hudson’s Bay” in 1959.

After visiting Los Angeles, she decided to stay following an uncredited role in Marlon Brando’s “Mutiny on the Bounty” in 1962. What followed was a prolific career spanning nearly four decades, during which she became one of television’s busiest and most recognizable guest stars.

A Prolific Screen Career

Bower’s television credits read like a catalog of classic American programming. She appeared on “Perry Mason,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Wagon Train,” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Fugitive,” “Bonanza,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Get Smart,” “Hogan’s Heroes,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Columbo,” “Kojak” and “Murder, She Wrote.” She also appeared in the acclaimed 1983 miniseries “The Thorn Birds.”

On the big screen, she received top billing in the horror film “Superbeast” in 1972, playing Dr. Alix Pardee. In the 1980 slasher classic “Prom Night,” she played the spouse of Leslie Nielsen and parent of Jamie Lee Curtis, a character tormented by her younger daughter’s accidental death. She was later kidnapped by Charles Bronson in the 1984 action thriller “The Evil That Men Do.”

For three seasons, from 1989 to 1992, Bower had a recurring role on the Canadian drama “Neon Rider” as Fox Devlin, a colleague of Winston Rekert’s Dr. Michael Terry. The series was set on a ranch in British Columbia for troubled and abused teenagers.

Life Beyond the Screen

Bower stepped away from acting after her run on “Neon Rider,” but she remained creatively active in unexpected ways. She produced a documentary film on Canadian chuckwagon racing, handling the cinematography, direction, editing and narration herself. She also studied carpentry at Santa Monica College, custom-built cabinets and tall bookshelves, and worked as a valued employee at Home Depot.

Bower married American pop artist James Gill in 1963, though the couple later divorced. She was predeceased by her half-brother, Roger. A celebration of her life is planned for September 26 in Pasadena, honoring an actress whose work continued to draw admirers long after she left the spotlight.