This Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Actor Was Related To Napoleon Bonaparte

I promise this will be interesting. Follow me for a moment.

According to the website Geneastar, it goes like this. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) had a younger sister named Caroline Bonaparte. The Bonaparte family was quite large, actually, so Napoleon had one older brother and six younger siblings. Caroline was the second-to-youngest of that generation. Five other Bonaparte siblings were born, but none of them survived childbirth. It was a rough time in the late 18th century. 

But to Caroline. Napoleon was said to be fond of Caroline, as he felt she resembled him the most closely. In 1800, when Caroline was only 18, she married one of Napoleon's marshals, Joachim Murat, also known as King Ferdinand IV of Naples. Caroline and Murat were married for 15 years when he died at Waterloo. They had four children together, including one Lucien Charles Murat, who was born in 1803, and who would become the Prince of Pontecorvo in 1813. He married a woman named Caroline Fraser in 1831, and it's now a little confusing because Lucien's mom and his wife had the same first name. 

Anyway, Lucien and Fraser had a son in 1851, and they named him Louis Napoléon Murat. Louis would become a military general who fought in the Franco-Prussian war, and actually represented France at the 1900 Olympic Games in the equestrian competitions. In 1873, he married a woman with the awesome name of Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova, and they had three kids together, including (deep breath) Michel Anne Charles Joachim Napoléon Murat, born in 1887. Fast-forward to 1913, and Michel married Helena MacDonald Stallo, the heiress to the Standard Oil fortune. 

Still with me?

Okay, so Michel and Helena only had one daughter, Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat, who was born in 1913. Fast-forward to 1939, and Laure married a Pulitzer-nominated Swiss-American journalist named Fernand Auberjonois. In 1940, Fernand and Laure had a son. They named him René. 

Trekkies know René Auberjonois as Odo on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." 

Of course, René Auberjonois has a much more expansive career than just playing the Odo, the shape-shifting security officer on "Deep Space Nine." Auberjonois got bit by the acting bug as a young man, and would study theater at Carnegie Mellon University. He taught on the staff at Juilliard in the 1960s, and had a prolific stage acting career throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He famously played Father Mulcahy in Robert Altman's 1970 film "M*A*S*H," and worked with Altman again the following year in "McCabe & Mrs. Miller." That same year, he started snagging guest spots on hot TV shows like "The Mod Squad," "The Jeffersons," "Rhoda," "Night Gallery," and dozens of others. One of his highest-profile gigs came in 1980 when he landed the role of Clayton Endicott III on the long-running series "Benson."

Auberjonois also had a notable voice-acting career, and sharp-eared cartoon fans will hear him speaking in "The Last Unicorn," and singing "Les Poissons" in 1989's "The Little Mermaid." He also starred in animated shows like "SuperFriends," "Snorks," "Challenge of the GoBots," and "DuckTales." He played General Zod in the 1988 "Superman" TV series, and Richie Rich's father in the '90s "Richie Rich" TV series. He's done a lot.

"Star Trek" was only a feather in his cap, another role in a prolific career. "Deep Space Nine" started in 1993, and Auberjonois played Odo in 173 of the show's 176 episodes. Because his character was a shapeshifter made of liquid, Auberjonois had to wear a facial prosthesis that smoothed out his features. Despite the makeup, he managed to emote effectively, giving pathos and longing to a cop with a gruff exterior.

"Deep Space Nine" wasn't Auberjonois's first brush with "Star Trek." He also had a minor role in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" two years prior, playing a violent officer named Colonel West. In that film, he's playing a human, so his face is fully visible. 

During and after "Star Trek," Auberjonois continued to work incessantly, appearing in hit films like "Batman Forever" and "The Patriot," as well as notable indie films like "Certain Women" and "Eulogy." His final film role was in Kelly Reichardt's excellent 2019 film "First Cow." In 2004, he landed another notable TV gig playing the character of Paul on 71 episodes of "Boston Legal." His final TV role came in 2016 when he played Walter in four episodes of "Madam Secretary." 

Some more fun trivia: Auberjonois was related to Napoleon on his mother's side, but his father's side also came with interesting ancestors. His father's father was also named René Auberjonois (1872 – 1957), and he was a Swiss impressionist painter of some renown. His works can be seen in museums around Switzerland. 

Auberjonois passed away in late 2019 at the age of 79. His son, Remy, has been appearing in his father's TV shows for many years, and now works as a professional actor as well, having appeared in a slew of TV shows like "Law & Order," "Blue Bloods," "The Leftovers," and "The Americans." The acting legacy continues. Napoleon's blood is still in there somewhere, I supposed, but René Auberjonois redefined his lineage for the immediate future.