'Star Trek' Legend René Auberjonois Dies Age 79

Hollywood is in mourning with the loss of another great, René Auberjonois.

Auberjonois, who was renowned throughout the Star Trek universe as Constable Odo, also was known as a premier character actor who had a good sense of comic timing. Nowhere was this more evident than in his portrayal of Clayton Endicott III, the governor's chief of staff in Benson, a role for which he won an Emmy in 1984.

I knew him best as Constable Odo, the irascible changeling security chief on Star Trek: DS9 who struggled throughout the series to find who he truly was. To my utter shock when I got older and was re-watching Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - one of the absolute best of the original series of Star Trek movies, as far as I am concerned - Auberjonois also appeared, uncredited, as Colonel West, one of the conspirators. Granted, the movie came out well before DS9 even debuted, but it still came as a surprise to see Auberjonois in such a different sort of role.

Of the changeling, Auberjonois noted, according to StarTrek.com, "Just as Pinocchio was wooden, Odo was a mass of liquid, really, and he was trying to get some kind of shape to his life and to who he was and he wanted to answer the questions he had about what his role was meant to be in that particular universe."

Auberjonois was also a frequent collaborator with director Robert Altman, with whom he first worked on the movie M*A*S*H - yes, that movie that gave rise to a decade-plus TV series that pretty much everyone fell in love with. He played kindly priest Father John Mulcahy, and while the role later went to William Christopher when the television series of the same name came to be, it was not his only time working with Altman. He would go on to work with the famed director another four times.

What is perhaps most surprising - or not - for those who have only known Auberjonois from his television and film appearances is that he was also a Tony Award winning stage performer. In fact, it was his role as Sebastian Baye in Coco, a play about designer Coco Chanel's life, that notched him his only Tony and his first of four nominations.

It wasn't until 1984 that he finally earned much deserved plaudits for his role on Benson, though. He scored his first of two Emmy nominations then, with the second being for his work on The Practice just over a decade later.

It's clear that Hollywood is reeling from the loss of this multifaceted performer. Star Trek legends William Shatner and George Takei both agreed that Auberjonois was, in addition to being a consummate performer, a kind man.

"I have just heard about the death of my friend and fellow actor @reneauberjonois," Shatner tweeted. "To sum up his life in a tweet is nearly impossible. To Judith, Tessa & Remy I send you my love & strength. I will keep you in my thoughts and remember a wonderful friendship with René."

Takei's words were similarly heartfelt.

"This is a terrible loss," Takei lamented. "Star Trek fans knew him as Odo from Deep Space Nine. We knew him as René. He was a wonderful, caring, and intelligent man. He shall be missed. When I look out to the stars, I shall think of you, friend."

Surprisingly, Auberjonois also became part of the #Disney universe. He was the fiery tempered chef who had a hankering for fresh crab meat and who would not leave Sebastian alone in The Little Mermaid. "Les Poissons," anyone?

Safe passage, Mr. Auberjonois. You will be missed.