- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRené Murat Auberjonois
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- 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. In 1969, he won a role in his first Broadway musical, "Coco" (with Katharine Hepburn), for which he won a Tony Award.
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. René also performed dramatic readings of a variety of books on tape, and appeared in projects like The Patriot (2000), starring Mel Gibson, Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000), and NBC's Frasier (1993) and ABC's The Practice (1997).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Carolyn R. Fulton crfulton@renefiles.com
- SpouseJudith Helen Mahalyi(October 19, 1963 - December 8, 2019) (his death, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsFernand AuberjonoisLaure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat
- RelativesHélène Macdonald Stallo(Grandparent)René Auberjonois(Grandparent)Michael Auberjonois(Sibling)Anne Auberjonois(Sibling)Ghislaine Vautier(Sibling)Marie-Laure Degener(Sibling)Laure Murat(Cousin)
- 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.
- Turned down the role of Father Mulcahy on the television series M*A*S*H (1972). He had played the role in the 1970 motion picture version.
- Outside of the Star Trek (1966) cast, he was the oldest Star Trek cast member until his death.
- Tried changing his surname very early on to "Aubert" because casting directors were unable to pronounce "Auberjonois" (which is pronounced roughly as "oh-bear-zhon-wah"). When he discovered that his new name caused just as much trouble, he decided to keep the real one.
- Turned down the role of John Bosley in Charlie's Angels (2000), which went to Bill Murray.
- My wife, Judith, is the best person in the world.
- I'm never going to retire. I'll die with my boots on.
- I do the conventions now for two reasons. To raise money for Doctors Without Borders and travel.
- I just wait for something to present itself, and then I consider it.
- I did a different voice for Odo. When people hear my real voice, they're often confused.
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