A screen actor with more than 200 credits, Auberjonois was most famous for portraying characters in the main casts of several long-running television series, including Clayton Endicott III on Benson (1980–1986), for which he was an Emmy Award nominee; and Paul Lewiston on Boston Legal (2004–2008). In films, Auberjonois appeared in several Robert Altman productions, notably Father John Mulcahy in the film version of M*A*S*H (1970); the expedition scientist Roy Bagley in King Kong (1976); Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid (1989), in which he sang "Les Poissons"; and Reverend Oliver in The Patriot (2000). Auberjonois also performed as a voice actor in several video games, animated series and other productions.
Early life
René Marie Murat Auberjonois was born June 1, 1940, in Manhattan, New York City.[2] His father, Swiss-born Fernand Auberjonois, was a Cold War-era foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer. Auberjonois' mother, Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat, was a great-great-granddaughter of Joachim Murat (one of Napoleon's marshals and King of Naples during the First French Empire), and his wife—Napoleon's youngest sister—Caroline Bonaparte. Auberjonois had a sister and a brother, and two half-sisters from his mother's first marriage.[3] Auberjonois wrote that his French family name, an uncommon one in the United States, means "armorer."[4]
Auberjonois' grandfather, also René Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. His maternal grandmother, Hélène Macdonald Stallo, was an American from Cincinnati, Ohio; his maternal grandfather's mother was a Russian noblewoman, Eudoxia Michailovna Somova, and his maternal grandfather's paternal grandmother, Caroline Georgina Fraser, who was the wife of Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat, was a Scottish-American from Charleston, South Carolina.
The Auberjonois family also lived for a time in London, where Auberjonois completed high school while studying theater.[6] To complete his education, he attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts in 1962.[7]
Auberjonois was a member of the original faculty of the Juilliard School's Drama Division when it opened in 1968 under John Houseman.[8][9][10]
Career
Theater
After college, Auberjonois worked with several different theater companies, beginning with three years at the prestigious Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. ("it was my graduate school," he said).[11] He traveled between Los Angeles, California, and New York, working in numerous theater productions. He helped found Bill Ball's American Conservatory Theater in Pittsburgh, playing the title roles in both "Tartuffe" and "King Lear," before moving with the company to San Francisco. Then came the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music Repertory Company in New York City. He was a member of the Peninsula Players summer theater program during the 1962 season.[12]
In 1968, Auberjonois landed a role on Broadway, and appeared in three plays that season: 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 (which played in repertory with King Lear) opposite Frank Langella, and as Marco in Fire! In 1969, he earned a Tony Award for his performance as Sebastian Baye alongside Katharine Hepburn in Coco.[13]
His television film credits include The Rhinemann Exchange, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, Disney's Geppetto, Gore Vidal's Billy The Kid, the remake of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and the Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000) miniseries. He portrayed the character Fortunato in an episode of American Masters entitled "Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul" (1995). He received a third Emmy Award nomination for his performance in ABC's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He played NASA scientist Dr. Felix Blackwell in the episode "Phoenix" on NCIS.
Auberjonois directed television shows, including Marblehead Manor, and various episodes of Deep Space Nine.
Voice acting
Pictured in 2010
Auberjonois was active in radio drama. He read "The Stunt" by Mordechai Strigler for the National Public Radio (NPR) series Jewish Stories From the Old World to the New, and he recorded novels on tape. On PRI, he was featured numerous times on Selected Shorts, reading works of dramatic fiction. His voice was heard in Disney's The Little Mermaid (receiving alphabetical top billing as Louis the Chef and singing "Les Poissons").
He did voice work on the Challenge of the GoBots series in 1980s as Dr. Braxis and was the voice of Peter Parker on the 1972 Buddah RecordsSpider-Man LP "From Beyond the Grave" (BDS 5119), a radio-style narrative replete with sound effects and rock and roll song interludes.
He voice acted in The Last Unicorn as the Skull that guards the clock that serves as an entryway into the Red Bull's lair. Peter S. Beagle, the author of the original book, praised Auberjonois' performance, saying "he could have played any role in that movie and I would have been happy ... He's that talented."
One of Auberjonois' earliest forays into video game voice acting was the role of Janos Audron in Soul Reaver 2; he continued to voice the character in subsequent releases in the Legacy of Kain series. According to a behind-the-scenes featurette in Soul Reaver 2, showing candid discussions among the voice actors during recording, he was surprised at the quality of the writing, asking, "This is for a video game?!" when the purpose of the recordings was brought to light.
Auberjonois was married to Judith Helen Mihalyi from 1963 until his death in 2019. They had a daughter[23] and a son, Rèmy-Luc,[24] both of whom also became actors.
In an interview with Compassion & Choices Magazine, Judith Auberjonois revealed that René Auberjonois underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer in 2018. It was discovered in 2019 that the cancer had spread to his brain. Due to the potential for serious cognitive side effects, Auberjonois chose not to pursue the whole-brain radiation treatment suggested by his doctors.[25]
As a resident of California, Auberjonois decided to seek medical aid in dying under the California End of Life Option Act.[25][26] On December 6, 2019, he spent his final hours with his family at his home in Los Angeles reminiscing over photos and listening to music.[26] He then took the medication prescribed for assisted suicide and died two days later at the age of 79. The California End of Life Option Act stipulates that death certificates should list the underlying terminal illness as the cause of death, rather than the use of life-ending medications.[27] His cause of death was given as metastatic lung cancer.[2][28]
↑ New York Trap Rock Corp. v. The Town of Clarkstown et al.,NY 272 App. Div.1021(Appellate Division, Supreme Court of New York, Second DepartmentMay 11, 1955).
↑ ""Esteemed Group" Garners Honorary Degrees at 104th Commencement". Carnegie Mellon News. May 10, 2001. Retrieved November 2, 2019. Called an 'actor's actor' by his peers, Auberjonois, a 1962 graduate of the School of Drama, earned many accolades for his performances in television, in film and on Broadway during his 40-year career.
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