Rene Auberjonois Biography Quotes 19 Report mistakes

Early Life
Rene Murat Auberjonois was born on June 1, 1940, in New York City and grew up in a family that prized art, literature, and international perspective. His father, Fernand Auberjonois, was a prominent journalist and foreign correspondent, and the family lineage included the noted Swiss post‑Impressionist painter Rene Auberjonois as his grandfather. Because of his father's work, he spent parts of his childhood and adolescence in the United States and Europe, an experience that broadened his cultural outlook and fed a developing interest in theater and performance.

Education and Training
Auberjonois studied drama at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), where he received rigorous classical training and began building the versatility that would define his career. After graduating, he immersed himself in the American regional theater movement. He worked with Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and became associated with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, sharpening his craft across Shakespeare, modern drama, and new works. Those years established him as an actor equally comfortable with farce, musical theater, and psychologically nuanced roles.

Breakthrough on Stage
His breakthrough came on Broadway in the late 1960s when he appeared in the musical Coco opposite Katharine Hepburn. His performance drew widespread attention and earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, a recognition that confirmed his standing among leading stage performers of his generation. He continued to work steadily on Broadway and off‑Broadway, collaborating with top directors and playwrights, and earning additional nominations and awards across a variety of productions. Colleagues frequently noted his precision, musicality, and the sly wit he could deploy in both comic and dramatic roles.

Film and Television Emergence
Auberjonois's film debut in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H (1970), as Father Mulcahy, introduced him to a wide audience and showcased his ability to ground eccentricity in humanity. He continued to appear in films over the decades, but television became a central arena for his talents. He created one of his most indelible television characters on Benson, playing Clayton Endicott III opposite Robert Guillaume and Inga Swenson. The ensemble's interplay, with Ethan Phillips and others, highlighted his finely tuned timing and flair for patrician, comedic foils.

He is perhaps best known for portraying Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993, 1999). Working daily under elaborate prosthetic makeup, he turned the shape‑shifting constable into a complex figure of integrity, loneliness, and curiosity. His scenes with Armin Shimerman's Quark, swirling with contempt, affection, and deadpan humor, became series touchstones, while the evolving relationship with Nana Visitor's Kira Nerys deepened Odo's emotional arc. He also crossed the Star Trek franchise in other ways, notably appearing as Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. On set, he worked closely with Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Alexander Siddig, and Michael Dorn, among others; the camaraderie of that company and his contributions behind the camera, he directed several episodes, helped shape the show's tone.

Later, he joined the cast of Boston Legal as Paul Lewiston, playing opposite James Spader, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen. His gravitas in the role anchored the firm's world and built a generational counterpoint to the series' flamboyant personalities. Through these television milestones, he earned multiple award nominations and sustained a reputation for making supporting roles feel essential.

Voice and Animation Work
Auberjonois's voice turned into a second signature. For Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989), he performed the exuberant Chef Louis, delivering the comic number "Les Poissons" with operatic gusto and razor‑sharp timing. He went on to voice characters across animated series and video games, bringing equal parts menace, erudition, and whimsy. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender recall his turn as the inventive Mechanist, while gamers encountered him as the calculating Mr. House in Fallout: New Vegas. His voice work, often recorded between theater and television projects, demonstrated his technical control and delight in character creation.

Directing, Mentoring, and Craft
In addition to acting, Auberjonois directed episodes of television, including installments of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also returned frequently to the stage, directing and performing in regional theaters and workshops. Colleagues and students remember his clarity in rehearsal rooms, his patience in exploring text, and his insistence on specificity, traits he traced back to his classical training and early repertory years. He was a generous mentor to younger actors, many of whom first met him at conventions or backstage and found him eager to discuss craft rather than celebrity.

Personal Life
Auberjonois married Judith Mihalyi in the early 1960s, and the couple built a long partnership grounded in the rhythms of a working actor's life: touring, rehearsal periods, location shoots, and the occasional Broadway run. They raised two children; their son, Remy Auberjonois, followed him into the profession, creating yet another family link to performance. Friends often described Rene as curious, self‑effacing, and loyal, someone as ready to talk about a painting or a book as he was about a role. He maintained ties to artistic communities on both coasts and frequently supported charitable causes; in later years he combined drawing with philanthropy, creating quick sketches he sold to benefit organizations he admired.

Later Years and Legacy
In his later career, Auberjonois balanced guest roles on television with stage appearances, voice acting, and convention engagements where he met legions of Star Trek fans. He took evident pleasure in the enduring life of Odo and in reconnecting with castmates such as Nana Visitor, Armin Shimerman, and Colm Meaney at reunions and panels. He remained active creatively, continuing to refine his approach to character, whether through a few lines in an animated episode or a complex monologue onstage.

Rene Auberjonois died on December 8, 2019, at the age of 79. Tributes poured in from across the entertainment industry. Colleagues from Benson to Boston Legal remembered his professionalism and grace; Star Trek collaborators like Avery Brooks and Nana Visitor highlighted his depth and humor; and longtime fans shared how his work gave dignity to outsiders and oddballs. His career, stretching from repertory stages to landmark television series, embodies the best of the American character actor tradition, resourceful, exacting, and endlessly surprising. The range he displayed, from Father Mulcahy's gentle conscience to Odo's stoic yearning and Chef Louis's gleeful bravura, remains a testament to an artist who prized storytelling in every medium he touched.

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