Film Essay: In Memoriam: Rene Auberjonois
In Memoriam: René Auberjonois
As with all things, some hit closer to home than others. The passing of René Auberjonois feels a lot like the passing of Leonard Nimoy. For myself, even though I never met Leonard or Rene, they have been family. My parents and I would watch Star Trek together as a family every week. When The Next Generation came out, my mother and I would watch it together. When Deep Space Nine started, it became my show. The story of me growing up can be traced through the series of Star Trek. The characters are family; their stories personal to me.
Spock (from the Original Star Trek and other interactions) and Odo (the shape shifting security chief on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) are so much alike. They both played the “straight” man on their show, providing insight and nuance to complicated moral situations. They both provided great comic relief at times. And they both placed the human condition under a microscope. To quote James T. Kirk on the passing of Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, “Of all the souls I’ve met in my travels… his (Spock’s) was the most… human.” The same thing can be said of Odo. Ironically both Spock and Odo (at least in the first couple of seasons) would be insulted by that idea. They did not consider themselves human. Odo continually reminds us of that when he says of his fellow officers “you humanoids are all alike” whether denouncing that “you have no sense of order” or that we indulge in our pleasures. Just as Leonard Nimoy gave life to Spock, so did René Auberjonois gave life to Odo.
René, of course, had a long and storied career outside of Star Trek (as did Leonard Nimoy). René’s early career took him to Broadway where he starred as the Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear opposite Lee J. Cobb’s King Lear. What I would have given to see that performance. René had this amazing ability to move from comic to tragic with such emotional ease that few others have I seen do it better. Shortly after that Broadway debut, he won a Tony award for playing the flamboyantly gay Coco Chanel in Coco opposite the great Katherine Hepburn. Ironic considering that René never believed he could sing that his Tony award would be for a musical role. He would later dazzle us in other musical roles from the underappreciated Huck Finn musical Big River, which he won another Tony nomination for, or as one of my favorite Disney characters, the Chef from Little Mermaid, whose song is comic joy.
In a career that spanned from the late sixties till today, René worked with some of the greatest actors and directors of our time. In addition to the previously mentioned Lee J. Cobb and Katherine Hepburn, René worked with the late great Robert Altman in several of his works including originating the Priest, Father Mulcahy, in M*A*S*H. What a great character. In a surprisingly late revival of his career, he worked alongside fellow Star Trek alum William Shatner as his boss in Boston Legal. Usually playing the enforcer in the show, one of the great episodes of Boston Legal showcased his great acting when he discovers that his daughter is doing drugs again, pulling him out of the office and giving his character some real depth. William Shatner and he became close friends, so close that Shatner has talked about the many paintings he has that Rene painted.
René Auberjonois also had a delightful career as a voice actor lending his talents to so many cartoons of my childhood. Whether as a Green Lantern or villain in Justice League or Ducktales or Inspector Gadget, he always made the role his own. He had the amazing ability to comic with his voice (The Little Mermaid), big and monstrous, cold and calculating. He could do it all.
But, with all of the work he did, René, fair or not, will be remembered as Odo.
During the audition process, René was coming in to read for the part after Andrew Robinson (who was considered the front runner for the part and would later be cast as Garak) and was told that they hadn’t seen anyone angry enough. His first line was “Quark”, calling the name of his nemesis the Ferengi bartender played by Armin Shimerman. René chose to enter the audition room screaming “QUARK!” and the character of Odo was born.
Like Spock and Data before him, Odo allowed us to view the human condition from the perspective of an outsider looking in. In the documentary included on the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD, René reflects back on his experience as Odo. He says (and I am paraphrasing) that Odo was such a great character because he had a profound need to find and understand his people. It gave René a driving force in playing Odo that gave his character such dimension. He mentioned that he hoped that Odo would never find his people because it was such a treasure trove for an actor to play. When Odo does find his people, René was jubilant in the writing since Odo’s people turned out to be the villains of the show, giving him even more to work with.
As the years wore on, Rene began to feel about Odo the same way Leonard Nimoy felt about Spock, Alec Guiness felt about Ben Kenobi in Star Wars, and Brent Spiner felt about Data. They each came at one point to resent the character because it would be the role they would be known and remembered for. This despite each of them having incredible careers in acting outside of these franchises. But, like Nimoy and Spiner, René Auberjonois came around in his thinking about Odo. By the time Deep Space Nine wrapped, he said that he was originally disturbed by the idea that he would not be remembered for his own face, but instead for Odo’s. But it was then he realizes that… being remembered as your character’s face is the dream of every actor. To be remembered not as someone playing a role, but as the role itself. As an actor who lived in that character’s skin and became them in a real way. Walking with Odo was a treasure for René Auberjonois. Besides that, legacy, he also treasured working on a show such as Star Trek. In his reflection on that DVD, he said that he realized that Star Trek is the most hopeful vision of humanity since The Kingdom of God in the Bible. Wow… He said to be a part of something that grand and important is a once in a lifetime opportunity. To be able to give hope to future generations. To build on the legacy of Gene Roddenberry who imagined a future without war, crime, or greed. To imagine a future where humanity had grown out of its infancy. Rene, you helped make that reality for all of us and keep the dream alive. You gave me such a gift in my darkest times to remind me of the good in all of us despite the darkness that sometimes surrounds us.
During the filming process of Deep Space Nine, René had long days. Three to four hours to get into makeup and two to get out of it. As a result, he was always in early and always left almost last. In doing so, he sat next to another of his costars who had to go through the same process: Armin Shimerman who played his nemesis Quark. The result of the time these two spent together was to develop a friendship that went beyond family. They and their families were and are incredibly close. Their friendship came across in their chemistry on the show. Like Miles and Julian or Dax and Sisko, there was a real connection between these two, a bond that elevated everything they did. Their relationship is one of the great protagonist / antagonist relationships in all of TV.
After René Auberjonois’s passing on December 8th, 2019, Armin Shimerman posted this on Twitter: “It is with great heartache and loss I share with you the passing of dear, dear Rene Auberjonois. His last message to me was entitled "Don't forget..." I know that I, Kitty, and all that knew him will never forget. The world seems noticeably emptier now. I loved him.” Indeed, Rene, you left an amazing legacy and like Spock and so many involved in Star Trek made my world less dark. Thank you.
Normally, I would include my favorite performances across an actor’s career, but in this case, my love of Star Trek would override any other opinion. So, in keeping with René admiring being remembered as Odo, I will list my favorite Odo centered episodes of Deep Space Nine.
Top Ten Odo Episodes:
10. “Emissary”
The best Star Trek pilot ever (although here’s hoping for Picard), Odo’s part may be minor, but in the few moments he’s given, he immediately establishes an incredible character. His banter with Quark and Captain Sisko when he watches Captain Sisko blackmail Quark into staying on the station and then says, “You know… at first… I didn’t think I was going to like him.” Here is an outsider who is solely focused on justice. A great start for a great series and great characters.
9. “The Begotten”
Odo was discovered not to be just an organic sample, but actually alive, by a Bajoran scientist, Dr. Mora. Their contentious father-son relationship never really worked for me until this episode. Long after Odo lost his ability to change shape, Quark sells him a sick changeling infant. Dr. Mora returns to “help” Odo raise the child. However, Odo, still angry at Dr. Mora for the experiments performed on him, refuses his help. In the end, the demands that he shows results forces Odo to use some of Mora’s techniques, but it is Odo’s love for the changeling that allows a connection to form between the two. Odo drunk in joy and celebration in Quark’s bar is quite the sight. Observing Odo’s jubilant demeanor, Quark says “if you’re happy there’s something wrong with the world.” But even the distrusting Quark is won over by Odo in his joy. The two are about to take a drink together when a tragedy occurs. A powerful episode.
8. “Civil Defense”
A classic rescue episode of Star Trek. “Civil Defense” finds the crew being locked down by a security program left by the Cardassians. Quark is visiting Odo in his office because he is scared something horrible is going to happen and then… it does. Odo and Quark get trapped in Odo’s office. Although much of the action in the episode occurs elsewhere on the station, the truly memorable parts happen in Odo’s office. Apparently the Cardassians considered Odo, a security chief under their occupation, a security risk when he was on the station. The security program uses force fields around his entire office and even on a separate grid than the others on the station to keep him in his office during a revolt by Bajoran workers. Odo can’t figure out why when Quark explains, “They knew you were a good man. That you’d do the right thing. And now… your character is going to get us both killed. I hope you’re happy.” Love it.
7. “His Way”
Odo’s long one-way love affair with Kira finally comes to an end. It finally becomes mutual. Odo has loved Kira for most of his adult life. She is the only one who has ever shown him respect and he appreciates it on a very deep level. They are close in a way that two friends who do not trust can come to trust each other. Yet, Odo knows he is not human and refuses to make any gesture towards a relationship, believing that no one could ever love him. That is until he meets a new holosuite program, Vic, a programed singer in Vegas, who knows all about love. Odo’s tutorial of learning to be cool in Vegas is amazing and the surprise ending, wonderful. Also, Kira singing in that red dress on a piano is a sight to behold.
6. “A Simple Investigation”
For most, this is a throw away episode, but it is in many ways, I think it is one of the great explorations of Odo’s character. He catches a young woman trying to break into an office on the station. Rather than arrest her, he helps her track down the person she’s come to find. He later learns that she is on the run from the Orion Syndicate, a criminal organization, which previously tried to kill Odo. In deciding to help her, he falls in love for only the second time in his life. A beautiful story.
5. “The Ascent”
The ultimate Quark and Odo episode. In “The Ascent”, Odo is transporting Quark to a grand jury to testify, but the Orion Syndicate has other plans. They plant a bomb on their shuttle, and they are forced to land on a class L planet: no edible life. The two must climb a mountain together to deliver a transmitter to the top if they ever hope of getting off the planet, but their love / hate relationship nearly causes everything to fall apart. The results are both hysterical and moving.
4. “Crossfire”
Quark can be a con artist, a smuggler, someone who deals in all sorts of illegal activity, but in this episode, he demonstrates his heart. Watching Odo fall apart over seeing Kira fall in love with someone else, Quark comes to Odo’s aid in a time that is totally unexpected and brilliant, demonstrating his feelings for Odo despite their rivalry.
3. “Improbable Cause” and “The Die is Cast”
The other amazing character relationship with Odo that I have not mentioned is his relationship with the former spy and current tailor on the station, the Cardassian, Garak. In these two episodes, Garak stages an explosion in his own shop to force Constable Odo to investigate an assassin on board that Garak believes is targeting him. The two then leave on a quest and get more than they bargained for. The scene where Garak has to torture Odo for information is one of the most painful in Star Trek’s history.
2. “The Search” Part I and II
I said how René did not want Odo to find his people… well… Odo finding his people is one of the great episodes of Star Trek. Finally finding his people after feeling an urge, instinct to go to a specific place in the Gamma quadrant, he is disappointed at first. He doesn’t understand his people, but through their guidance he has an amazing realization about what it means to be a changeling. For the first time he understands his existence but is then crushed when he learns that his people are the Founders of the Dominion, a space empire that enslaves hundreds of systems. When he demands to know why, the female changeling informs him “because what you can control can’t hurt you. So many years ago, we tasked ourselves with bringing order to the galaxy… Order is what you seek, Odo.” To which Odo responds that “Justice has always meant everything to me… but it means nothing to you… does it?” With that, Odo decides to leave his people and stay with his adopted family.
1. “Necessary Evil”
My favorite episode of Odo explores the relationship between him and Kira. Flashing back to the time of the Cardassian occupation on the station, Gul Dukat, the Cardassian Prefect of Bajor, assigns Odo to investigate the murder of a Bajoran on the station. Odo is naturally gifted at this enterprise and would eventually earn both the Cardassian and Bajoran’s trust. His lifelong pursuit of justice begins here, and it now threatens his relationship with his closest friend, Kira. This is also the first time Odo has ever done a security log as Starfleet requires. His narration is priceless in this episode. “Are these thoughts appropriate for a Starfleet log? I don’t care. End security log.”
