Star Trek 45th Anniversary: Rene Auberjonois 360
Well-known character actor Rene Auberjonois, who among other roles is best known for having portrayed the shapeshifting Chief of Security Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine sat down with me via phone for a chat to reflect on a vastly successful career. The reflections of the past, present and a look into the future certainly give a more than fascinating insight into the mind of an acting genius.
Rene Auberjonois has been known as a contributor to a large body of quality television. His skill as a character actor has in no small way been to the benefit of any and everything he has ever graced with his talents. Auberjonois reflected on his beginnings as a stage actor and frequent television guest star.
“Television was sort of further down the line in my career as an actor,” he explained, “I had been working in the theatre and out of university and regional repertory theatre. I was one of the founding members of a company in San Francisco called the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.).”
He did make note of the fact that San Francisco was significantly a tourist spot and definitely not Los Angeles.
“A man named Harve Bennett who actually serendipitously had nothing to do with my career in Star Trek,” he reflected, “He ended up being a real force in the Star Trek, he produced the earlier films.”
Harve Bennett was definitely a driving force in Star Trek producing one of the most successful Star Trek films of all time; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
“At that time he was responsible for producing The Mod Squad,” he remembered.
Auberjonois eventually left A.C.T. and moved to New York.
“I guess he remembered me and I had an offer to come to Hollywood and do a guest starring role on The Mod Squad. Harve and I remained very good friends.”
Thus was the beginning of Auberjonois’s bridging from the theatrical medium to television, a vastly different one as many know.
“From that time on I worked for Spelling/Goldberg almost every season doing a guest shot on whatever their newest show was whether it was Starsky & Hutch, Charlie’s Angels or whatever they needed me for.”
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