RENé AUBERJONOIS
Name: Rene Murat Auberjonois
Born: 1 June 1940 New York City, New York, United States
Rene Murat Auberjonois (born June 1, 1940) is a Tony Award-winning American
character actor, known 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.
Auberjonois was born in New York City. His mother was Princess Laure Louise
Napoleone Eugenie Caroline (nee Murat), a descendant of Joachim Murat, King of
Naples, and his wife Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the Emperor Napoleon. His
father, Fernand Auberjonois (1910-2004), was a Cold War-era foreign
correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, and his grandfather, also
named Rene Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. Auberjonois's
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'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 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, both of whom are also actors.
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 performance 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.
Name: Rene Murat Auberjonois
Born: 1 June 1940 New York City, New York, United States
Rene Murat Auberjonois (born June 1, 1940) is a Tony Award-winning American
character actor, known 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.
Auberjonois was born in New York City. His mother was Princess Laure Louise
Napoleone Eugenie Caroline (nee Murat), a descendant of Joachim Murat, King of
Naples, and his wife Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the Emperor Napoleon. His
father, Fernand Auberjonois (1910-2004), was a Cold War-era foreign
correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, and his grandfather, also
named Rene Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. Auberjonois's
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'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 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, both of whom are also actors.
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 performance 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.