Antoinette Bower Dies at 93, Star Trek and Twilight Zone Actress

Q: From UN refugee work to Hollywood, what surprising trade did this classic TV star master in her later years?

She mastered carpentry in her later years. After a life that took her from postwar refugee work with the UN’s International Refugee Organisation to a long Hollywood career, Antoinette Bower studied carpentry at Santa Monica College. She went on to build custom cabinets and bookshelves herself and even worked at Home Depot, where she was known as a skilled employee. She also expanded into documentary filmmaking, producing, directing, editing and narrating a film about Canadian chuckwagon racing. But the “surprising trade” she notably learned later in life was carpentry.

Q: Why was the death of this beloved 'Star Trek' and 'Prom Night' actress kept private for over two months?

There is no confirmed public explanation for why Antoinette Bower’s death was not announced for more than two months. What is known is that Bower died on April 30, 2026, at age 93 in a retirement home in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, and that her death was only publicly reported on July 11, when her friend Carlotta Glackin confirmed it to *The Hollywood Reporter*. The available reports do not cite a reason for the delay, and no cause of death has been disclosed. In cases like this, delayed announcements are sometimes the result of family or close friends choosing privacy, handling personal arrangements, or waiting until memorial plans are in place. But in Bower’s case, that remains speculation, not something established by the reporting. The confirmed facts are that Bower’s passing was kept out of the public eye until Glackin spoke publicly, that William Shatner later offered condolences, and that a celebration of her life is scheduled for September 26 in Pasadena, California. Beyond that, the reason for the privacy has not been stated in the published accounts.

3 articles · Updated · Metro.co.uk · Jul 11

Antoinette Bower died April 30 at age 93 in a retirement home in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, with her death confirmed by friend Carlotta Glackin.
Bower was best known as the alien Sylvia in Star Trek’s 1967 episode “Catspaw” and for appearances in The Twilight Zone, Columbo and Murder, She Wrote.
Her screen career stretched roughly four decades, beginning in Canadian television in 1958 and ending with a three-season run on Neon Rider from 1990 to 1993.
Before acting, the German-born British performer worked with the UN’s International Refugee Organisation after World War Two, and later returned to documentary work after retiring from acting.
A celebration of Bower’s life is scheduled for Sept. 26 in Pasadena, underscoring the lasting fan following she retained from Star Trek.