René Auberjonois who to me and many Star Trek fans will always be Odo sadly died on December 8th at his Home in Los Angeles. His career started in the 1960’s where he was in Theatre including three roles on Broadway in 1968. In 1970 he appeared in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H playing father Mulcahy along side Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould. He also played an ornithologist in Robert Altmans Brewster McCloud the same year.
Throughout the 1970 he continued doing numerous guest slots on Television shows and appeared in 1976’s version of King Kong, until he joined the cast of Benson in 1980 for 5 seasons as the hypochondriac Endicott. He went on during the 1980’s and early 90’s to do a lot of voice work in animation including the French Chef who sings the love song to killing fish in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
Throughout the 1970 he continued doing numerous guest slots on Television shows and appeared in 1976’s version of King Kong, until he joined the cast of Benson in 1980 for 5 seasons as the hypochondriac Endicott. He went on during the 1980’s and early 90’s to do a lot of voice work in animation including the French Chef who sings the love song to killing fish in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
In 1993 for us Science Fiction fans his most memorable role was as Odo on Deep Space Nine. He embraced fandom and was frequently at conventions where he raised money for Médecine Sans Frontières. His autograph always included a little sketch of Odo’s bucket.
Once DS9 finished he continued to work in both voice work and Television, He had recurring Roles in Judging Amy (2001-2002) and The Practice (2001-2002). In 2004 he joined Boston Legal as Paul Lewitson until 2008. He continued to have roles in Science Fiction and Fantasy appearing in both The Librarians and a reoccurring Part in Warehouse 13. He carried on working until just before his death with his final role being in the series First Cow (2019)
It is obvious that my most vivid memories of René Auberjonois as an actor are on Deep Space Nine where he brought humanity and depth to a character that could have so easily ended up one dimensional. Looking back I realise that I knew him as an actor in many roles. I saw M*A*S*H in the late 1970’s at a friend of my parents. They were the only people we knew who owned a video recorder and I stayed there for a few days. In their collection was a copy of M*A*S*H which as a film I have always loved, later on before his role in DS9 I saw him in Benson.
In recent years one of his best roles was on Boston Legal where he acted with another Star Trek Alumni William Shatner, his more restrained style balance William Shatner’s more dramatic character well.
It will be sad not to see him in any new roles but he has a large body of work so we will get to see that for many years along with one of the most individual Star Trek characters in the whole canon.
