René Auberjonois: The Prolific Character Actor Who Defined Modern Voice and Screen Performance

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: With over 200 screen credits and a storied Broadway career, René Auberjonois was a master of transformation. From his Tony-winning stage debut to his iconic turns in Star Trek and Boston Legal, he navigated the worlds of theater, film, and animation with a rare, enduring versatility that spanned five decades.

Born in Manhattan in 1940, René Auberjonois was the son of a foreign correspondent and a descendant of Joachim Murat, a marshal under Napoleon. His early life was international, with time spent in Paris and London before he returned to the United States to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He graduated in 1962 and quickly became a fixture in the American theater scene, helping to found the American Conservatory Theater and performing in Broadway productions like the 1968 King Lear and the 1969 musical Coco, for which he won a Tony Award.

Auberjonois' career was defined by his ability to inhabit vastly different roles. On television, he became a household name through his work on Benson, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Boston Legal. His filmography was equally eclectic, ranging from Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H to the voice of Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid. He was also a pioneer in video game voice acting, famously questioning the high quality of scripts he encountered in projects like Soul Reaver 2 and Fallout: New Vegas.

In his later years, Auberjonois faced a diagnosis of metastatic lung cancer. After the cancer spread to his brain in 2019, he opted against aggressive radiation treatments due to the risk of cognitive decline. A resident of California, he utilized the state's End of Life Option Act to pass away at home on December 8, 2019, at the age of 79. His legacy remains that of a deeply respected craftsman who, as author Peter S. Beagle once noted, possessed the rare talent to elevate any role he touched.

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