René Auberjonois Movies
While his name might suggest a birthplace somewhere in France -- or at the very least Quebec -- actor Rene Auberjonois was born in New York City. However, his well-to-do parents were of noble European blood, thus French was the language of choice in his household. Despite his first-born-American status, Auberjonois was shunned by many of his schoolmates as a foreigner, and teased for having a "girl's" name. As a defense mechanism, Auberjonois became the class clown, which somehow led naturally to amateur theatricals. The influence of such neighborhood family friends as Burgess Meredith and Lotte Lenya solidified Auberjonois' determination to make performing his life's work. He was cast in a production at Stratford (Ontario)'s Shakespeare company by John Houseman -- another neighbor of his parents' -- and after moving with his family to England, Auberjonois returned to complete his acting training at Carnegie-Mellon University. There he decided to specialize in character parts rather than leads -- a wise decision, in that he's still at it while some of his handsomer and more charismatic Carnegie-Mellon classmates have fallen by the wayside. Three years with the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. led Auberjonois to San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, of which he was a founding member. Movie and TV work was not as easy to come by, so the actor returned to New York, where he won a Tony for his Broadway role in the musical Coco. An introduction to director Robert Altman led Auberjonois to his first film, M*A*S*H (1970), in which he introduced the character that would later be fleshed out on TV as Father Mulcahy (with William Christopher in the role). He worked in two more Altman films before he and the director began to grow in opposite directions. More stage work and films followed, then TV assignments; Auberjonois' characters ranged from arrogant dress designers to snooty aristocrats to schizophrenic killers on film, while the stage afforded him more richly textured roles in such plays as King Lear and The Good Doctor. In 1981, Auberjonois was cast as Clayton Endicott III, the terminally fussy chief of staff to Governor Gatling on Benson. Like so many other professional twits in so many other films, Auberjonois' job was to make life miserable for the more down-to-earth hero, in this case Robert "Benson" Guillaume. Blessed with one of the most flexible voiceboxes in show business, Auberjonois has spent much of the last decades providing voice-overs for cartoon characters, notably Chef Louie in the Disney-animated feature The Little Mermaid. In 1993, Rene Auberjonois assured himself a permanent place in the hearts of "Trekkies" everywhere when he was cast as Odo (complete with understated but distinctive "alien" makeup) on the weekly syndicated TV show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a Korean War veteran who becomes an occupational therapist in a private mental hospital that cares for wealthy, schizophrenic clientele. He slowly begins to fall for Lilith Arthur (Jean Seberg), a patient who is mentally locked in her own little world. Vincent eventually begins his own psychological disintegration over his feelings for the woman and asks for help. Watch for early career performances from Olympia Dukakis and Gene Hackman in this depressing psychodrama. This was the final film from the gifted director Robert Rossen, who died in 1966. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, (more)
Petulia is Richard Lester's ode to the Swinging Sixties: a time of psychedelic instability when neither those who were square, nor those who were hip, really had it right. George C. Scott is Archie Bollen, a divorced San Francisco doctor in the midst of "discovering himself." Julie Christie is Petulia Danner, a peculiar young beauty recently married into an established family. Archie's sterile apartment and detached, bemused manner exemplify his inability to emote. Petulia's forward nature and desperate tenderness betray her fear of her sullen, abusive, pretty-boy husband (Richard Chamberlain). The physician and the newlywed embark on a schizophrenic love affair amid Pepsi references, automated motels, roller derbies, and a cameo by Big Brother and the Holding Company -- but they never achieve the daring to truly change their lives. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, George C. Scott, (more)
Although he was not the first choice to direct it, the hit black comedy MASH established Robert Altman as one of the leading figures of Hollywood's 1970s generation of innovative and irreverent young filmmakers. Scripted by Hollywood veteran Ring Lardner, Jr., this war comedy details the exploits of military doctors and nurses at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. Between exceptionally gory hospital shifts and countless rounds of martinis, wisecracking surgeons Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould) make it their business to undercut the smug, moralistic pretensions of Bible-thumper Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Army true-believer Maj. "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). Abetted by such other hedonists as Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt) and Painless Pole (John Schuck), as well as such (relative) innocents as Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff), Hawkeye and Trapper John drive Burns and Houlihan crazy while engaging in such additional blasphemies as taking a medical trip to Japan to play golf, staging a mock Last Supper to cure Painless's momentary erectile dysfunction, and using any means necessary to win an inter-MASH football game. MASH creates a casual, chaotic atmosphere emphasizing the constant noise and activity of a surgical unit near battle lines; it marked the beginning of Altman's sustained formal experiments with widescreen photography, zoom lenses, and overlapping sound and dialogue, further enhancing the atmosphere with the improvisational ensemble acting for which Altman's films quickly became known. Although the on-screen war was not Vietnam, MASH's satiric target was obvious in 1970, and Vietnam War-weary and counter-culturally hip audiences responded to Altman's nose-thumbing attitude towards all kinds of authority and embraced the film's frankly tasteless yet evocative humor and its anti-war, anti-Establishment, anti-religion stance. MASH became the third most popular film of 1970 after Love Story and Airport, and it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. As further evidence of the changes in Hollywood's politics, blacklist survivor Lardner won the Oscar for his screenplay. MASH began Altman's systematic 1970s effort to revise classic Hollywood genres in light of contemporary American values, and it gave him the financial clout to make even more experimental and critical films like McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), California Split (1974), and Nashville (1975). It also inspired the long-running TV series starring Alan Alda as Hawkeye and Burghoff as Radar. With its formal and attitudinal impudence, and its great popularity, MASH was one more confirmation in 1970 that a Hollywood "New Wave" had arrived. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, (more)
- 1970
- R
A boy yearns to fly in Robert Altman's whimsical youthquake parable. With the aid of seraphic Louise (Sally Kellerman), owlish Brewster (Bud Cort) constructs a pair of human-size wings in his Houston Astrodome nest to realize his dream. Meanwhile, conservative creeps, including a witchy "Star-Spangled Banner"-belting crone (Margaret Hamilton) and Brewster's skinflint boss (Stacy Keach), keep turning up dead covered with bird droppings; the Houston Establishment calls in blue-eyed, turtleneck-wearing "San Francisco super cop" Frank Shaft (Michael Murphy) to investigate. Brewster cooks his own goose, however, when he defies Louise's edict against sex and hooks up with Astrodome usher Suzanne (Shelley Duvall) after she impresses him (and saves him) by out-driving Shaft in her Road Runner. Despite her apparent sweetness, Suzanne ultimately will not compromise her comfortable home for flight with Brewster. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, (more)
Memorably described by Pauline Kael as "a beautiful pipe dream of a movie," Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller reimagines the American West as a muddy frontier filled with hustlers, opportunists, and corporate sharks -- a turn-of-the-century model for a 1971 America mired in violence and lies. John McCabe (Warren Beatty) wanders into the turn-of-the-century wilderness village known as Presbyterian Church, with vague plans of parlaying his gambling winnings into establishing a fancy casino-brothel-bathhouse. McCabe's business partner is prostitute Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie), who despite her apparent distaste for McCabe helps him achieve his goal. Once McCabe and Mrs. Miller become successful, the town grows and prospers, incurring the jealousy of a local mining company that wants to buy McCabe out. Filmed on location in Canada, McCabe & Mrs. Miller makes use of such Altman "stock company" performers as Shelley Duvall, René Auberjonois, John Schuck, and Keith Carradine. The seemingly improvised screenplay was based on a novel by Edmund Naughton and the movie features a soundtrack of songs by Leonard Cohen. McCabe & Mrs. Miller joined such other Altman efforts as M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, and Thieves Like Us in radically revising familiar movie genres for the disillusioned Vietnam era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, (more)
- 1971
Once Upon a Dead Man was the pilot film for the TV series McMillan and Wife. The stars are Rock Hudson as wealthy San Francisco police commissioner Stewart McMillan and Susan Saint James as his inquisitive young wife Sally. The plot at hand starts out with a theft at a charity auction. This snowballs into the disappearance of a an Egyptian sarcophagus. Want to bet that a body will tumble out of that sarcophagus before the film is over? Once Upon a Dead Man was telecast as the first McMillan and Wife episode on September 17, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Some prisoners pin their hopes for freedom on a homemade aircraft in this made-for-television thriller. Based on a true World War Two story, Doug McClure stars as Harry Cook, an Allied soldier who tries to escape a Nazi prison camp with a scientist in tow, using a glider built by their fellow inmates. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
A woman walks a razor's edge between reality and madness in this impressionistic drama written and directed by Robert Altman. Cathryn (Susannah York) is a woman who begins to suspect that her marriage to Hugh (René Auberjonois) is falling apart after receiving a mysterious phone call from a friend who tells her Hugh has been having an affair. Cathryn herself has not been happy with Hugh, and years before she took a lover, Rene (Marcel Bozzuffi), though he died some time ago in a plane crash. Thinking they both need to get away, Hugh takes Cathryn to their house in the country, where Hugh indulges in his hobbies, hunting and photography, and Cathryn works on a book of fantasy tales for children. Before long, Cathryn begins to see apparitions of the late Rene around the house, much to her consternation; while confronting her feelings about the late Rene and the wandering Hugh, Marcel (Hugh Millais), a friend of the couple who makes little secret of his attraction to Cathryn, arrives for a visit, with his daughter Susannah (Cathryn Harrison) in tow. As Rene's appearances become more vivid and Cathryn reaches the end of her tether, she begins to drift deeper into a fantasy world, where it's difficult to tell what is real and what is imagined. Beautifully shot on striking locations in Ireland by Vilmos Zsigmond, Images earned Susannah York an award as Best Actress at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susannah York, René Auberjonois, (more)
- 1972
- PG
Based on Peter DeVries' novel Witch's Milk, Pete 'n' Tillie stars Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett in the title roles. Middle-aged when they first meet, eternally joking Pete and repressed "old maid" Tillie don't immediately hit it off. Gradually, their friendship deepens into love and culminates (reluctantly, on Pete's part) in marriage, eleven years of which is explored in this film. Throughout the funny and tragic moments, and despite the many breakups, their love endures. Oscar nominations went to screenwriter Julius J. Epstein and supporting actress Geraldine Page. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, (more)
- 1973
In this comedy, some clever amateur basketball players create an interesting and highly rewarding variation of the popular sport. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Incident at Vichy is a play by Arthur Miller written in response to the situation in France during WWII. In this drama, people are individually questioned by the police about their political alliances. This made-for-TV version from the Broadway Theatre Archives is directed by Stacy Keach and stars René Auberjonois. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
James Earl Jones gave one of his finest performances in the title role of Joseph Papp's acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival production of the Bard's tragedy, putting a new spin on this classic story of one family's vainglorious battle over the affections and favor of an aging monarch. Jones and the production's original cast re-created their roles for this 1974 television special; the supporting cast includes Raul Julia, Rosiland Cash, Paul Sorvino, René Auberjonois, and Lee Chamberlin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1975
The Jeffersons' neighbor Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict) is convinced that his girlfriend, Daphne (Melinda Dillon), wants to propose marriage. He spends the rest of the episode hatching schemes to wriggle out of his predicament. Meanwhile, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) has his own problems in the form of a gimlet-eyed building inspector (René Auberjonois). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, (more)
"The German Air Force is not at all what it used to be," says Anne Bancroft's Countess, about 16 minutes into The Hindenburg, pausing and then adding, "But then, nothing is these days." That seems to sum up the ponderous, irony-laden script and plot of Robert Wise's movie, which is posited -- in true post-Watergate fashion -- upon notions of conspiracy and cover-up behind the destruction of the German airship. The movie opens with a handy Universal newsreel that gives a vestpocket history of lighter-than-air flight, and that carries us to 1937 Germany. Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, finds himself assigned to the flight of the Hindenburg as chief of security; reports and rumors about the destruction of the zeppelin have circulated both in Germany and America, and the Nazi government takes these very seriously. What Ritter walks in on is a "Grand Hotel" of the air, several dozen passengers and crew whose ranks contain enough red herrings to keep Ritter (and us) jumping through hoops for most of the first half of the film, when we're not watching glorious shots of the zeppelin in flight. The answer to the script's presentation of the plot against the airship,and theidentityof the bomber and his motivations, are actually presented in the first 15 minutes, but there are so many false leads, subplots, and blind alleys put before us that the solution will probably pass by unnoticed. In the meantime, Ritter dances around with his ex-paramour (Bancroft), scheming businessmen (Gig Young), and passengers with skeletons in their closets (Alan Oppenheimer), an entertainer (Robert Clary) with a knack for offending loyal Nazis, several officers and crew with known "political" differences with the Nazi Party, a Gestapo man (Roy Thinnes) who's got an agenda of his own, and two genuine mystery men (Burgess Meredith, Rene Auberjonois) who don't seem to have any reason for traveling on this particular voyage. It's all a little tiring, or would be, if the setting and special effects weren't that interesting, and the cast wasn't so entertaining to watch in these relatively thankless roles. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, (more)
- 1975
Bob's participation in a medical foreign-exchange program obliges the Hartleys to play host to arrogant French psychologist Alan Durocher (Rene Auberjonois). Neither Bob nor Emily are quite prepared for Dr. Durocher's "continental" outlook on life. Things come to head when Bob is forced to mediate between the contentious Durocher and his long-suffering mistress, Louise (Francois Ruggieri). Richard Forojny rounds out the guest cast as Artie Berkowitz. Written by Douglas Arango and Phil Doran, "Shrinks Across the Sea" first aired on October 25, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, (more)
Famed producer Dino De Laurentiis tries to steal the thunder from Jaws, then the top-grossing film of all-time, in this big budget remake of King Kong. (De Laurentiis related his tactics to Tom Snyder: "When Jaws dies, nobody cries. When Kong dies, they all cry.") Updated to the 1970s, the original Robert Armstrong character is now Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), a big-shot oil magnate from Petrox Oil, looking for new petroleum deposits on a recently discovered Pacific island. Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) is a counter-culture paleontologist, stowing away on Wilson's ship, who warns that they are headed for "Skull Island," where prehistoric monsters still live and roam free. Also along for the ride is Dwan (Jessica Lange, in her film debut), a down-on-her-luck starlet, shipwrecked in the ocean after the sinking of a yacht. She really becomes down-on-her-luck when the group lands on the island and a giant ape, Kong, takes a shine to her. Kong kidnaps her and Dwan takes umbrage when the ape tries to remove her clothes by shouting, "You male chauvinist ape!" But Prescott comes to her aid and rescues her from the gorilla's big mits. Wilson, seeing money to be made on Kong, locks him in the cargo hold of his ship and transports him to New York City. Once there, Kong manages to escape and wreak havoc upon the beleaguered town, before being compelled to climb up the World Trade Center for sanctuary. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1976
Rich widow Grace Rodeheaver (Gertrude Flynn) hires the Angels to find out who is systematically stripping her of her wealth. Our heroines soon determine that the culprit may be the shady medium who is "helping" Grace contact the spirit of her late husband. Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) poses as another wealthy widow in order to prove that the medium is neither rare nor well-done -- and nearly ends up in the spirit world herself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
The Big Bus is set aboard a nonstop, nuclear-powered luxury bus commandeered by Joseph Bologna. Naturally, Bologna is a tortured hero with a deep dark secret (he keeps insisting he didn't eat all those passengers on his last disastrous drive). Stockard Channing and Harold Gould play the designers of the big bus, and of course they have a few skeletons in their closet. In fact, there isn't a passenger on the all-star manifest that isn't hiding something. The supporting cast features contributions by René Auberjonois (parodying his M*A*S*H role), Ned Beatty, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon (doing a devastating send-up of Airport's Helen Hayes), Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, and many others; Murphy Dunne contributes a memorable bit as a smarmy cocktail pianist. Unfortunately, The Big Bus was dumped onto the summer 1976 release schedule without fanfare by Paramount, and it sank without a trace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 1976
Panache, that dashing 17th century poet, swordsman and lover, is played by Rene Auberjonois. In true Alexander Dumas fashion, Panache is accompanied in his adventures by two musketeers, naive Alain (Charles Frank) and worldly Donat (David Healy). In this made for TV pilot film, Panache and his comrades protect the Queen (Amy Irving) from the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu (Joe Ruskin), whose chief lieutenant is the insidious Rochefort (Charles Siebert). Everyone obviously had a lot of fun making Panache, especially Rene Auberjonois, a consummate character actor who never received a TV role quite this colorful again. What a wonderful series this would have made...but 1976 wasn't the year of the TV swashbuckler, not with such 20th century favorites as Henry Winkler and Suzanne Somers around. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
One of four miniseries comprising NBC's Best Sellers anthology, The Rhinemann Exchange was adapted from the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. Stephen Collins stars as American intelligence officer David Spaulding, who under cover of his musician father's concert tours embarks upon a number of fact-finding missions in Europe just before WW2. Once hostilities break out, Spaulding relocates to Aergentina, there to exchange industrial diamonds for a secret gyroscope needed for the American war effort. Naturally, the Nazis are equally interested in those diamonds, putting Spaulding in any number of perilous predicaments. Lauren Hutton costars as Leslie Hawkewood, one of those ravishing "mystery women" so common to espionage fiction. Originally running 5 hours and telecast in three segments on March 10, 17, and 24, 1977, The Rhinemann Exchange was later rebroadcast as a four-hour, two-part "TV movie." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Collins, Lauren Hutton, (more)
A shutterbug is haunted by psychic visions of the killer who is murdering all of her friends in this hit thriller. Intense and driven, successful photographer Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) has made a name for herself by juxtaposing sex and violence in her glamorous photos. But at the height of her success -- and just as a media backlash is brewing -- she begins to experience daydreams from the point of view of a serial killer as he relentlessly stalks and murders her associates. Her unbalanced ex-husband (Raul Julia) seems like an obvious suspect, especially when his new girlfriend is murdered and he goes on the lam. But Laura is shocked by the prospect that the killer could be somebody out to discredit her work, which she views as an artistic commentary on the degradation of the modern world. Under the protection of police detective John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones), Laura is unable to save even one of her friends from a violent end. Soon, she finds herself inside the mind of the killer as he marches down a familiar hallway: the one outside her own door. Co-written by Halloween director John Carpenter, Eyes of Laura Mars also features character actors Brad Dourif and René Auberjonois. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
- 1978
This television miniseries is based on Thomas Tryon's complex and suspenseful occult thriller Harvest Home, delving into the forbidden rituals of the small New England township Cornwall Combe, whose residents offer annual human sacrifices to pagan gods in return for a bountiful corn harvest. The production is notable mainly for the participation of Bette Davis, who plays the powerful Widow Fortune, the town's leading practitioner of the black arts. A very young Rosanna Arquette co-stars as one of the new kids in town. Beware the severely cut home video version, which omits almost 200 minutes of footage and thus loses a great deal of clarity. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Somehow the sleek and sophisticated Kate Mulgrew isn't whom we pictured as the wife of the eternally unkempt Lt. Columbo, but Universal Television was looking for ratings, not credibility (it got neither). Mrs. Columbo: Word Games is the 2-hour pilot for the Mrs. Columbo TV series, which premiered February 26, 1979. Mother, homemaker and reporter for a neighborhood newsletter, Kate Columbo exhibits her husband's sleuthing prowess when she investigates a violent quarrel between neighboring couple Robert Culp and Edie Adams. Kate is laughed off when she insists that Culp has announced plans to murder Edie; what results is a double murder. When Mrs. Columbo bombed, Universal revamped the project, dropped the "Columbo" tie-in (and the marriage), and released the results as Kate Loves a Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Mulgrew
- 1979
In the made-for-television film Wild, Wild West Revisited, the classic comedy/espionage/western television series is brought up to date with a story featuring government agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon leaving retirement to battle Miguelito Loveless, who is planning to conquer the earth by cloning world leaders. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, (more)
