Rene Auberjonois

Grandson of well-known Swiss post-impressionist painter René Auberjonois (1872-1957).

His mother was Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat (November 13, 1913 - May 10, 1986) and on her side, René was the great-great-great-Grandson of Joachim [Napoléon] Murat, King of Naples and King of Sicily, formerly Grand-Duke of Berg and Kleve, and of his wife (Marie Annonciade) Caroline Bonaparte, sister of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

René Murat Auberjonois was born on June 1, 1940 in New York City, to Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline (Murat), who was born in Paris, and Fernand Auberjonois, who was Swiss-born. René was born into an already artistic family, which included his grandfather, a well-known Swiss painter, and his father, a Pulitzer-nominated writer and Cold War-era foreign correspondent. The Auberjonois family moved to Paris shortly after World War II, and it was there that René made an important career decision at the age of six. When his school put on a musical performance for the parents, little René was given the honor of conducting his classmates in a rendition of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?". When the performance was over, René took a bow, and, knowing that he was not the real conductor, imagined that he had been acting. He decided then and there that he wanted to be an actor. After leaving Paris, the Auberjonois family moved into an Artist's Colony in upstate New York. At an early age, René was surrounded by musicians, composers and actors. Among his neighbors were Helen Hayes, Burgess Meredith and John Houseman, who would later become an important mentor. Houseman gave René his first theater job at the age of 16, as an apprentice at a theater in Stratford, Connecticut. René would later teach at Juilliard under Houseman. René attended Carnegie-Mellon University and studied theater completely, not only learning about acting but about the entire process of producing a play. After graduating from CMU, René acted with various theater companies, including San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum.

As a teen growing up in an artist colony in the Hudson River Valley along the base of the Ramapo Mountains near New City, NY, Auberjonois babysat for the family of Bill Mauldin, the cartoonist who had recently costarred with Audie Murphy in The Red Badge of Courage (1951), and whose "Willie and Joe" characters had represented and spoke for U.S. infantry "dogfaces" on the European front during the Second World War.

Is mentioned in "Big Lou", the biography of actor Louis Edmonds, because he and Edmonds both starred in an avant garde Broadway play that flopped after just a few performances in the late 1960s. The play was called "Fire!" and it is covered in detail in "Big Lou".

Alumnus of the College of Fine Arts (CFA) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU); School of Drama, class of 1962.

Outside of the Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) cast, he was the oldest Star Trek cast member until his death.

In 1969, he won a role in his first Broadway musical, "Coco" (with Katharine Hepburn), for which he won a Tony Award.

Won Broadway's 1970 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "Coco". He was also nominated as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) in 1974 for "The Good Doctor", and as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) in 1985 for "Big River" and in 1990 for "City of Angels".

Turned down the role of Father Mulcahy on the television series M*A*S*H (1972). He had played the role in the 1969 motion picture version.

Throughout his life, René acted in a variety of theater productions, films and television presentations, including a rather famous stint as Clayton Endicott III on the comedy series Benson (1979), not to mention seven years on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) as Odo.

He was awarded the 1981 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for "Twelfth Night" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

He was awarded the 1982 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for "The Misanthrope" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

He was awarded the 1983 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for "Richard III" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

In the same tradition as Jonathan Frakes, of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) reprising Commander Riker, Auberjonois reprised Constable Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) for an episode of Family Guy (1999).

Was one of only 32 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek (up to and including Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)) and then in one of the spin-offs. His role in the original Star Trek was uncredited as Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (a film that counts as part of the original Star Trek series).

Had appeared in both Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and Batman Forever (1995), both as characters with the title of Doctor: Dr. March in the former and Dr. Burton in the latter. In the former, as Dr. March, he also made an homage to Batman (1989) with a line referring to bats as survivors.

Both he and his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) co-star Colm Meaney appeared in "Stargate", playing the leader of a human civilization on another planet whose population lived under the surface. In both cases, the main characters of the series in question attempted to form an alliance and arrange an exchange of technology before learning that this civilization could not be trusted. Auberjonois played Alar, leader of the Eurondans in the Stargate SG-1 (1997) episode "The Other Side"; Meaney played Cowen, leader of the Genii in the Stargate Atlantis (2004) episodes "Underground" and "The Storm".

Turned down the role of John Bosley in Charlie's Angels (2000), which went to Bill Murray.