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René Murat Auberjonois (born June 1, 1940 in New York City) is an American actor best known for his early 1980s role as Clayton Endicott III on the television show Benson and his role as Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Some of the other roles he had played over the years include Father John Patrick 'Dago Red' Mulcahy in the movie version of M*A*S*H, Chef Louis in Disney's The Little Mermaid, Col. West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the gangster Tony in Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, and Reverend Oliver in The Patriot (2000). Most recently, he plays the role of attorney Paul Lewiston on the David E. Kelley-created Boston Legal.
René Auberjonois's mother was Princess Laure of Murat. On his mother's side, René is descended from Joachim Murat, King of Naples, and his wife Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the Emperor Napoléon. His father, Fernand Auberjonois (1910-2004), was a Cold War era foreign correspondent, and his grandfather, also named René Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. Auberjonois' family moved to Paris after World War II, where at an early age he decided to become an actor. When the family later moved back to the United States, it was to join an artist's colony in upstate New York whose other residents included Burgess Meredith, John Houseman and Helen Hayes. The environment only confirmed his 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 16 years old, as an apprentice. They worked together again later, when he taught under Houseman at The Juilliard School. He stated in a 1993 interview that Houseman was the person who had most influenced his career.
To complete his education, he enrolled at Carnegie-Mellon University. After graduating CMU, he worked with several different companies, eventually landing a role on Broadway in 1969, where he played alongside Katharine Hepburn in Coco. He was presented with a Tony Award for his performance.
Auberjonois married Judith Mahalyi in 1962 with whom he has two children, Tessa Auberjonois and Remy Auberjonois.