- René Auberjonois (actor)
imagesize = 200px
name = René Auberjonois
caption = Auberjonois at the Galileo7-Convention
in Neuss, Germany, 2004
birthdate = birth date and age|1940|6|1
birthplace =New York City ,New York ,United States
deathdate =
birthname = René Murat Auberjonois
othername =
spouse = Judith Mahalyi (October 19 ,1963 –present)
tonyawards = Featured actor in a musical 1970 "Coco " René Murat Auberjonois (bornJune 1 1940 ) is a American actor, known for portrayingFather Mulcahy in the movie version of "M*A*S*H" and for creating a number of characters in long-runningtelevision series , including Clayton Endicott III on "Benson" (for which he was nominated for anEmmy Award ), Odo on "", and attorneyPaul Lewiston on "Boston Legal ".Biography
Early life
Auberjonois was born in
New York City . His mother was Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline (née Murat), a descendant ofJoachim Murat , King of Naples, and his wifeCaroline Bonaparte , sister of the Emperor Napoléon. His maternal grandmother was an American, from Cincinnati, Ohio, his maternal grandfather's mother was a Russian Noblewoman, and his maternal grandfather's paternal grandmother,Caroline Georgina Fraser, was also an American, from Charleston, South Carolina. His father, Swiss bornFernand Auberjonois (1910–2004), was aCold War -era foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, and his grandfather, also named René Auberjonois, was a Swisspost-Impressionist painter. He has one brother, as well as, from his mother's first marriage, two half-sisters. [ [http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04241/369197.stm Obituary: Fernand Auberjonois / Much admired foreign correspondent who lived a chronicle of 20th century ] ]Auberjonois's family moved to
Paris afterWorld War II , where at an early age he decided to become an actor.After a few years in France, the family moved back to the U.S. and joined an artists' colony in
Rockland County, New York , whose other residents includedBurgess Meredith ,John Houseman , andHelen Hayes . The environment confirmed Auberjonois's 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 sixteen years of age as an apprentice. They worked together again later, when Auberjonois taught under Houseman at theJuilliard School , and Auberjonois stated in a 1993 interview that Houseman was the person who had most influenced his career.Fact|date=January 2008 The Auberjonois family also lived inLondon , England, where Auberjonois completed high school while studying theatre. To complete his education, Auberjonois attended and graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (nowCarnegie Mellon University ).Auberjonois married Judith Mihalyi on
October 19 ,1963 . They have two children, Tessa and Remy, both of whom are also actors.Theatre
After college, Auberjonois worked with several different theatre companies, beginning at the prestigious
Arena Stage inWashington, D.C. He then traveled betweenLos Angeles and New York working in numerous theatre productions. Auberjonois helped found theAmerican Conservatory Theatre inSan Francisco , theMark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and theBrooklyn Academy of Music Repertory Company in New York.Eventually, Auberjonois landed a role on Broadway in 1968, and ended up appearing 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" (oppositeFrank Langella ), and as Marco in "Fire!". The next year, he earned aTony Award for his performance as Sebastian Baye alongsideKatharine Hepburn in "Coco".cite web | title = Tony Awards Database: René Auberjonois | url = http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search?start=0&year=&award=&lname=Ren%E9+Auberjonois&fname=&show= | publisher = American Theatre Wing | accessdate = 2008-01-29] Other Tony nominations were forNeil Simon 's "The Good Doctor" (1973, oppositeChristopher Plummer ); as The Duke in "Big River" (1984), winning aDrama Desk Award ; and, memorably, as Buddy Fidler/Irwin S. Irving in ""City of Angels"" (1989), written byLarry Gelbart andCy Coleman .Other Broadway appearances include Malvolio in "
Twelfth Night " (1972); Mr. Samsa in "Metamorphosis " oppositeMikhail 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 anOuter 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 performance as Richard III was not a success. As a member of the Second Drama Quartet, Auberjonois toured withEd Asner ,Dianne Wiest , andHarris Yulin . He also appeared in theTom Stoppard andAndre Previn work, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor", at theKennedy Center and theMetropolitan Opera .Auberjonois made his debut at the
Shakespeare Theatre Company as the titular character in Molière's "The Imaginary Invalid " through July 27, 2008.Auberjonois has also directed many theatrical productions.
###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
years=1970
for "Coco"
before=Ronald Holgate
for "1776"
after=Keene Curtis
for "The Rothschilds "Films
After "M*A*S*H", Auberjonois's movie roles have included the gangster Tony in ' (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 inRobert Altman 's 1970 film "Brewster McCloud ". He cameod as "Colonel West" in the 1991Star Trek film '. Other notable film appearances have included "McCabe & Mrs. Miller " (1971, starringWarren Beatty ), "The Hindenburg " (1975, co-starringGeorge C. Scott ), the first remake of "King Kong " (1976), "The Big Bus " (1976), "Eyes of Laura Mars " (1978), "Where The Buffalo Roam " (1980), "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 ", In 2004 he did the voice for "Bio-Constrictor" for theDirect-to-DVD movie '. He voiced Chef Louis in the 1st and "Little Mermaid" films and the Butler in '.Television
In addition to being a regular on three TV shows in three different genres ("Benson" (
situation comedy ); ' (science fiction); and "Boston Legal " (legal drama)), Auberjonois has been a guest star on many different television series, including "The Rockford Files ", "Charlie's Angels ", "The Jeffersons ", "The Outer Limits ", "Matlock", "Murder, She Wrote ", "Frasier ", "Judging Amy ", "Chicago Hope ", ', "Stargate SG-1 ", "The Practice " (for which he received another Emmy nomination, playing a different character than the one he has played on "The Practice" spinoff "Boston Legal"), and "Saving Grace". 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 "" (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
Janos Audron in three of the "Legacy of Kain " games, ', ' and ', and he voiced several roles on ', "Avatar the Last Airbender ", "Xiaolin Showdown ", "Justice League Unlimited ", and "Max Steel ".Auberjonois has directed some TV shows, including "Marblehead Manor" and several episodes of "Deep Space Nine" listed below.
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. As for film voice-overs, he was heard in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" (receiving top billing as Chef Louis), and as The Skull in "The Last Unicorn". He reprised an animated version of his character Odo from ' in a cutaway joke in "
Family Guy s "". The cutaway featured Odo threatening Stewie's alleged cousin Quark Griffin.He also did the voice of Vanity Smurf from the "Smurfs " series in the 1980s, and was the voice of Peter Parker on the 1972Buddha Records Spider-Man LP "From Beyond the Grave" (BDS 5119), a radio-style narrative replete with sound effects and rock and roll song interludes provided by "The Webspinners", in which the characters of The Vulture, The Lizard,The Green Goblin , The Kingpin andDr. Strange also appeared. Rene also provided the voice forJanos Audron , an ancient vampire in the "Legacy of Kain "video game series; he was in "Soul Reaver 2 ", "Blood Omen 2 ", and ""."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"References
External links
*imdb name|id=0041281|name=René Auberjonois
*amg name|2:119
*voice actor|id=1037|name=René Auberjonois
*tvtome person|id=5839|name=René Auberjonois
*ibdb name|id=66778|name=René Auberjonois
* [http://www.renefiles.com/ René's Home Page]
* [http://abc.go.com/primetime/bostonlegal/bios/rene_auberjonois.html Auberjonois' profile at the Boston Legal site]
* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/DS9/cast/69055.html Auberjonois' profile at the StarTrek.com website]
* [http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Interviews-Features/Article/default.aspx?posting=%7B86A3AC70-C4F2-48BC-A697-0F3A5A3E2700%7D Profile and interview at TV Guide]
* [http://techcasts.podOmatic.com/enclosure/2006-08-24T05_00_09-07_00.mp3/ Hear Sam Downie interviewing René, on Sam Downie's Tech:Casts Podcast series]
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