communications relay login

Rene Auberjonois dies Aged 79

In memory of Rene Auberjonois

By Chris Wilkinson Mon 09 Dec, 2019 12:23 AM
It is with a heavy heart that I, and we as a community, say goodbye to one of the greats of the Star Trek fandom. Rene Auberjonis passed away earlier today at home of metastatic lung cancer. This is a man who stayed with us until the end, as he did work for Star Trek Online within the past year and kept working on a lot of projects this year in film.

Speaking for myself, his time as Odo was more than memorable, as he always upheld justice on the station, Deep Space 9, which was, untamable. This was whilst also being, at least in the beginning, the only one of his kind, and then had to deal with the disappointment that his people led the Dominion. However, this wasn't his first role within the Star Trek fandom, this was as Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, who couldn't have been more different to the role he ended up holding for 7 years.

As an actor, he took on a wide variety of roles, from comedy movies such as Police Academy (this is where I saw him first), to the wise master Fung in Xiaolin Showdown, which I saw when I was much younger than I am now. To more serious TV shows, such as Boston Legal. I'm sure it's safe to say that he gave his all in every role he undertook and whether you knew it was him or not, it was likely memorable.

As we look forward, we need to look at the past as well and take lessons from it, and one of the biggest I got from his DS9 character was, to always be yourself, despite what people may think of you. At the end of the day, there will be people who accept you for who you are as we saw with the crew of DS9, and there will be people who try to take advantage of you (the Cardassians).

Today, we have definitely lost an icon, in a year which hasn't been kind to our community, with the loss of a number of notable people. We all wish his family, and friends the best, and that Rene Auberjonois may rest in peace. You may have left us today, but you will never be forgotten, as we will always remember those weeks where you'd visit us in our living rooms, and made us chuckle when you spoke with Quark, or brought a tear to our eyes when your portrayal of leaving the one you love to save an entire people, making one of the greatest sacrifices a person can make.

Finally, I'd like to quote Armin Shimerman, who posted this on Twitter a short time ago.



This is something I'm sure we can all definitely agree on.

Rest in peace Rene Auberjonois, 1 June 1940 - 8 December 2019

WRITTEN BY Chris Wilkinson
EDITED BY Three of Seven - rena.hobden@ufplanets.com
11 Comments
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 2:40 AM
Very sad to hear about his passing. Condolences to his family.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 3:11 AM
This is a sad day, he will be missed.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 3:51 AM
Well, that sucks. Cry
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 7:58 AM
Shocked to see this. May he rest in peace and his loved ones get all the support.

This is a sad day indeed.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 7:59 AM
Well that makes me sad, I met him on a Convention in Germany.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 8:09 AM
Such a phenomenal actor, loved him as Odo! Big loss to the Star Trek community and that was a spot on tweet from Armin (Quark).
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 9:45 AM
What a tragic loss.. Sad
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 1:33 PM
Very very sad to hear this. Loved ds9, was one of my favourites, and odo was always a great character.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 3:25 PM
He may be gone but he is always with me - right there on the shelf in my collection. I hit play and get to enjoy his art one episode at a time.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 5:03 PM
These are sad news. May he rest in peace.
Mon 09 Dec, 2019 6:55 PM
BIG SADNESS!

I was shocked to see the news Sad