Rest In Peace Rene Auberjonois, famous television actor and 'Odo' on Star Trek, dead at Age 79

[Husky_Khan]

'Star Trek' and 'Benson' actor Rene Auberjonois dead at 79 | Fox News

Rene Auberjonois, known for his roles in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Benson" and his part as Father Mulcahy in the 1970s film "M.A.S.H." has died at age 79.

www.foxnews.com

A time of loss for the Star Trek franchise it seems recently, first with DC Fontana and now this passing.

Not only was he on M.A.S.H. and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine rather famously, as well as countless other shows, I actually recall him in his performance in one of my favorite earlier Stargate SG-1 television series, episode #402 The Other Side.

I recall that episode because I remember reading a Gateworld entry on it and apparently there was a fascinating bit which offered insight into Rene's sense of humor.

“Actor Rene Auberjonois, who played the doomed leader Alar, was a pleasure to work with. Soon after wrapping production on the episode, he swung by Brad’s office to tell him Alar had a twin brother who’d be more than happy to make an appearance in a future episode. Two other things stand out for me about this episode. The first was being on set and discovering how they pulled off the chamber-rattling off-screen concussive bursts of the bombings. Director Peter DeLuise would yell: ‘Boom! Shake-shake-shake!’ The actors would feign being rocked while members of the crew would rain dust and sand down on them, unseen overhead.

Rene Auberjonois portrayed the leader of the Eurondans, a faction caught in the losing side of a Civil War with another group. They are willing to exchange technology and other assets in exchange for heavy water which they use as fuel. Throughout the episode, it is eventually implied that the Eurondans are some manner of biological supremicists or nationalists and started this war against the enemy they dubbed as 'Breeders.' What really stood out to me was that not only did SG-1 remove themselves from helping them, but actually actively assisted in the downfall of the Eurondans by using their own drone aircraft against them. It kinda troubled me because while the narrative was obviously showing the Eurondans were some sort of race based fascists or something... it all still was so briefly set up and ultimately, neither Alar (Rene's character) nor any of the others actually lied or deceived the SG-1 team about their situation. It's even a stretch to say that they were somehow being deceptive by with holding the truth. Just how seemingly 'underdeveloped' the context of the Eurondan situation was still kinda makes me ponder things even now whenever I think about it.

Ultimately it did help solidify the character development of more nuanced characters like Jack O'Neill and helped illustrate just how much moral flexibility they actually had in situations like this. And regardless it was a great episode of Stargate and Rene's contribution to it was very notable and well performed. Great actor and performance for a very good, and one of my favorite episodes.

 

[Deleted member]

This is a true terrible shame to hear. Considering the restrictions of that mask, he did a marvelous job with Odo.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Indeed it is a shame. The man was an excellent actor. He willed be missed.