Rene Auberjonois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

René Auberjonois
René Auberjonois at the Galileo7-Convention in Neuss, Germany, 2004
Birth name	René Murat Auberjonois
Born	June 1, 1940 (age 66) New York City, New York,  United States
Spouse(s)	Judith Mahalyi (19 October 1963 - present) 2 children
Notable roles	Father Mulcahy M*A*S*H Clayton Endicott III in Benson Constable Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Paul Lewiston in Boston Legal

René Murat Auberjonois (born June 1, 1940 in New York City) is a Tony Award-winning American character actor, best know for portraying Father Mulcahy in the movie version of M*A*S*H and for creating a number of characters in long-running television series, including Clayton Endicott III on Benson (for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award), Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and, currently, attorney Paul Lewiston on Boston Legal. He also has had a long and successful stage acting career.

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Theatre 1.2 Films 1.3 Television 1.4 Radio and other voice work 2 Deep Space Nine directorial credits 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Life and career

Auberjonois' mother was Princess Laura Murat, a descendant of Joachim Murat, King of Naples and his wife Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the Emperor Napoléon. His father, Fernand Auberjonois (1910–2004), was a Cold War-era foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, and his grandfather, also named René Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. Auberjonois' family moved to Paris after World War II, where at an early age he decided to become an actor.

The family moved back to the U.S., joining an artists' colony in Rockland County, New York whose other residents included Burgess Meredith, John Houseman, and Helen Hayes. The environment confirmed Auberjonois' decision to act, and he made important contacts that were to advance his career. One of the most influential contacts Auberjonois made during this period was Houseman, who gave him his first job in the theater at 16 years of age as an apprentice. They worked together again later, when Auberjonois taught under Houseman at the Juilliard School, and Auberjonois stated in a 1993 interview that Houseman was the person who had most influenced his career. The Auberjonois family also lived in London, England, where Auberjonois completed high school while studying theatre. To complete his education, Auberjonois attended and graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).

Auberjonois married Judith Mihalyi on October 19, 1963. They have two children, Tessa and Remy.

[edit] Theatre

After college, Auberjonois worked with several different theatre companies, beginning at the prestigious Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He then traveled between Los Angeles and New York working in numerous theatre productions. Auberjonois helped found the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music Repertory Company in New York.

Eventually, Auberjonois landed a role on Broadway in 1968, where he appeared in three plays at once: as Fool to Lee J. Cobb's King Lear (the longest running production of the play in Broadway history), as Ned in A Cry of Players (opposite Frank Langella), and as Marco in Fire!. The next year he earned a Tony Award for his performance as Sebastian Baye alongside Katharine Hepburn in Coco. Other Tony nominations were for Neil Simon's The Good Doctor (1973, opposite Christopher Plummer); as The Duke in Big River (1984), winning a Drama Desk Award; and, memorably, as Buddy Fidler/Irwin S. Irving) in City of Angels (1989), written by Larry Gelbart and Cy Coleman.

Other Broadway appearances include Malvolio in Twelfth Night (1972); Mr. Samsa in Metamorphosis opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov (1989); Professor Abronsius in Dance of the Vampires, Michael Crawford's unsuccessful rewrite of Tanz der Vampire; and Jethro Crouch in Sly Fox (2004, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award). Auberjonois has also appeared many times at the Mark Taper Forum, notably as Malvolio in Twelfth Night and as Stanislavski in Chekhov in Yalta, although his perfomance as Richard III was not a success. As a member of the Second Drama Quartet, Auberjonois toured with Ed Asner, Dianne Wiest, and Harris Yulin. He also appeared in the Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn work, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, at the Kennedy Center and the Metropolitan Opera.

Auberjonois has also directed many theatrical productions.

[edit] Films

After M*A*S*H, Auberjonois' movie roles have included Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the gangster Tony in Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988), and Reverend Oliver in The Patriot (2000). He has had some rather exotic cameos in a number of films, including Dr. Burton, a mental asylum doctor patterned after Tim Burton, in Batman Forever, and a bird expert who gradually transforms into a bird in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud. Other notable film appearances have included McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, starring Warren Beatty), The Hindenberg (1975, co-starring George C. Scott), the remake of King Kong (1976), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), Eulogy, The Feud, and Inspector Gadget (1999). Auberjonois also portrayed the character of Straight Hollander in the 1993 Miramax film, The Ballad of Little Jo and Reverend Oliver in the 2000 Mel Gibson film The Patriot.

[edit] Television

In addition to his recurring roles mentioned above, Auberjonois has guest-starred on many television series, including The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, The Outer Limits, Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, Frasier, Judging Amy, Chicago Hope, Star Trek: Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, and The Practice (for which he received another Emmy nomination for a different character than the one he plays on Practice spinoff Boston Legal). Television movie credits include Disney's Geppetto, Gore Vidal's The Kid, the remake of the classic, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and the miniseries Sallie Hemings: An American Scandal (2000). He received a third Emmy Award nomination for his performance in ABC's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Auberjonois has also lent his voice as Chef Louis in Disney's The Little Mermaid, and as Janos Audron in three of the Legacy of Kain games, Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen 2 and Defiance, and he voiced several roles on Batman: The Animated Series, Avatar the Last Airbender, and Justice League Unlimited.

Auberjonois has directed some TV shows, including Marblehead Manor and several episodes of DS9 listed below.

[edit] Radio and other voice work

Auberjonois has also been active in radio drama. Among other programs, he read "The Stunt" by Mordechai Strigler for the NPR series Jewish Stories From the Old World to the New. He has also recorded a number of novels on tape.

[edit] Deep Space Nine directorial credits

• "Prophet Motive"
• "Family Business"
• "Hippocratic Oath"
• "Indiscretion"
• "The Quickening"
• "Let He Who Is Without Sin..."
• "Ferengi Love Songs"
• "Waltz"
• "Strange Bedfellows"

[edit] References

• Rene Auberjonois biography at the Memory Alpha site
• Auberjonois' profile at the Boston Legal site
• Auberjonois' profile at the StarTrek.com website
• Profile and interview at TV Guide
• Rene Auberjonois at the Internet Movie Database
• Hear Sam Downie interviewing Rene, on Sam Downie's Tech:Casts Podcast series

[edit] External links

• Rene's Home Page
• Rene Auberjonois at the Internet Movie Database
• Rene Auberjonois at the Voice Chasers Database
• Rene Auberjonois at TV.com
• Rene Auberjonois at the Internet Broadway Database
• Rene Auberjonois at the Notable Names Database
• Voiceography and Photo
• Rene Auberjonois article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.

Major Cast Members of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Avery Brooks | Nana Visitor | Terry Farrell | Rene Auberjonois | Alexander Siddig | Colm Meaney | Michael Dorn | Cirroc Lofton | Armin Shimerman | Chase Masterson | Max Grodénchik | Aron Eisenberg | Nicole de Boer | Andrew Robinson | J. G. Hertzler | Casey Biggs | Marc Alaimo | Jeffrey Combs | Louise Fletcher | Salome Jens