Remembering René Auberjonois, a heartwarming constant through DS9 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 12-09-2019, 09:28 PM

https://io9.gizmodo.com/remembering-...-cu-1840316187

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s moral murkiness meant that a lot of its heroes, unlike many of the noble Trek stars that came before them, started out as kind-of jerks who softened and grew with the time we spent with them across seven seasons," says James Whitbrook of Auberjonois, who died Sunday at age 79. "But it wasn’t really a Starfleet officer on the show that best symbolized this; it was DS9's irascible chief of security, René Auberjonois’s Constable Odo." Whitbrook adds: "As the show itself grew and evolved—moving on from the lingering tensions between the Federations and the Bajoran government attempting to join its ranks (and the factions looking to avoid that outcome) to plunging into the dark depths of the all-out war with the alien Dominion in its back half—Odo felt like a character you could rely on for a sense of familiarity among the ever-changing crowds of the titular space station’s promenade. Whatever episode you pulled up, whatever season, Auberjonois—almost hidden underneath the layers of prosthesis required to give Odo his smooth-faced, almost melting changeling appearance—would be there, Deep Space Nine’s ever-watchful grump."

ALSO:

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stars pay tribute to Auberjonois
Read Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor's remembrance of Auberjonois

René Auberjonois dies: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Benson and Boston Legal star was 79

Auberjonois, who died Sunday from metastatic lung cancer, was one of the most sought-after character actors with hundreds of roles in television, film and the stage. Among his TV roles, he most memorably played alien security officer Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the governor’s chief of staff Clayton Endicott III on Benson and senior law firm partner Paul Lewiston on Boston Legal. Auberjonois' last TV role was on Madam Secretary in 2016. "He appeared in episodes of seemingly every television show of the 1970s: Starsky & Hutch, The Rockford Files, The Bob Newhart Show, Charlie’s Angels and many more. Benson, which he joined in 1980 in its second season, made him a regular in American living rooms," writes Neil Genzlinger in Auberjonois' New York Times obituary, adding: "Mr. Auberjonois was thrust into a whole different level of fame when he took on the role of Odo, a stern shape-shifter and the security chief of the Federation space station Deep Space Nine, on the 1990s Star Trek spinoff, which ran for 173 episodes (several of which he directed). The franchise, of course, has an army of ardent fans, and Mr. Auberjonois turned up at various fan fests, enjoying the adulation — but as himself, not as an alien." “When I go to conventions, I don’t talk in my Odo voice, I don’t have makeup on,” he told The Birmingham News of Alabama in 1996 of being a Star Trek star. “I’m just a guy with a receding hairline.” ALSO: Fellow Star Trek stars pay tribute to Auberjonois, including William Shatner and George Takei.

12-09-2019, 09:28 PM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,010	Remembering René Auberjonois, a heartwarming constant through DS9 https://io9.gizmodo.com/remembering-...-cu-1840316187 "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s moral murkiness meant that a lot of its heroes, unlike many of the noble Trek stars that came before them, started out as kind-of jerks who softened and grew with the time we spent with them across seven seasons," says James Whitbrook of Auberjonois, who died Sunday at age 79. "But it wasn’t really a Starfleet officer on the show that best symbolized this; it was DS9's irascible chief of security, René Auberjonois’s Constable Odo." Whitbrook adds: "As the show itself grew and evolved—moving on from the lingering tensions between the Federations and the Bajoran government attempting to join its ranks (and the factions looking to avoid that outcome) to plunging into the dark depths of the all-out war with the alien Dominion in its back half—Odo felt like a character you could rely on for a sense of familiarity among the ever-changing crowds of the titular space station’s promenade. Whatever episode you pulled up, whatever season, Auberjonois—almost hidden underneath the layers of prosthesis required to give Odo his smooth-faced, almost melting changeling appearance—would be there, Deep Space Nine’s ever-watchful grump." ALSO: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stars pay tribute to Auberjonois Read Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor's remembrance of Auberjonois René Auberjonois dies: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Benson and Boston Legal star was 79 Auberjonois, who died Sunday from metastatic lung cancer, was one of the most sought-after character actors with hundreds of roles in television, film and the stage. Among his TV roles, he most memorably played alien security officer Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the governor’s chief of staff Clayton Endicott III on Benson and senior law firm partner Paul Lewiston on Boston Legal. Auberjonois' last TV role was on Madam Secretary in 2016. "He appeared in episodes of seemingly every television show of the 1970s: Starsky & Hutch, The Rockford Files, The Bob Newhart Show, Charlie’s Angels and many more. Benson, which he joined in 1980 in its second season, made him a regular in American living rooms," writes Neil Genzlinger in Auberjonois' New York Times obituary, adding: "Mr. Auberjonois was thrust into a whole different level of fame when he took on the role of Odo, a stern shape-shifter and the security chief of the Federation space station Deep Space Nine, on the 1990s Star Trek spinoff, which ran for 173 episodes (several of which he directed). The franchise, of course, has an army of ardent fans, and Mr. Auberjonois turned up at various fan fests, enjoying the adulation — but as himself, not as an alien." “When I go to conventions, I don’t talk in my Odo voice, I don’t have makeup on,” he told The Birmingham News of Alabama in 1996 of being a Star Trek star. “I’m just a guy with a receding hairline.” ALSO: Fellow Star Trek stars pay tribute to Auberjonois, including William Shatner and George Takei.