René Auberjonois

Auberjonois in 2006, photo by Prphotos

Birth Name: René Murat Auberjonois

Date of Birth: June 1, 1940

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Death: December 8, 2019

Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Ethnicity:
*father – Swiss-French
*mother – Russian, German, French, Italian [Corsican], Scottish, English, distant Tatar

René Auberjonois was an American actor, singer, voice artist, narrator, and director.

René was the son of Fernand Auberjonois, a Cold War-era foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, and Princess Laure/Laura Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat. His father was born in Valeyres-sous-Montagny, Jura-Nord vaudois District, Switzerland, of Swiss-French descent. His mother was born in Paris, France.

He was married to Judith Helen Mahalyi, until his death, with whom he had two children, actors Tessa Auberjonois and Remy Auberjonois.

He had said that his surname means “armorer” in French.

René’s paternal grandfather was named René Victor Auberjonois (the son of Gustave Auberjonois). René’s grandfather René was born in Lausanne, and was a Swiss post-impressionist painter. He was one of the leading Swiss artists of the 20th century.

René’s paternal grandmother was named Augusta Grenier.

René’s maternal grandfather was Prince Michel Anne Charles Joachim Napoléon Murat (the son of Prince Louis Napoléon Murat and Eudoxia Michailovna/Mikhailovna Somova, Princess Orbeliani). René’s grandfather Prince Michel was born in Oleksandrivs’k, Luhans’ka oblast, Ukraine. René’s great-grandfather Prince Louis was born in Paris, the son of Napoléon Lucien Charles Joseph Murat and Carolina/Caroline Georgina Fraser. René’s great-great-grandfather Lucien was born in Milan, Italy, and was of French and Italian [Corsican] ancestry; his father was Joachim-Napoléon Murat, a Marshal of France, Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, and King of Naples during the First French Empire. Lucien’s mother, René’s great-great-great-grandmother Caroline/Carolina Bonaparte, was a younger sister of Napoleon I of France. René’s great-great-grandmother Carolina was an American, from Charleston, South Carolina, and was of Scottish, and possibly other, ancestry.

René’s great-grandmother Eudoxia Michailovna Somova, Princess Orbeliani was born in Oleksandrivs’k, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, the daughter of Mikhail/Mihail/Michail Alexandrovich Somov and Maria Pavlovna Shirinskaya/Chirinsky/Schirinsky-Shikhmatova/Chikhmatov/Schichmatov; she was a noblewoman, of Russian ancestry, and had distant Tatar roots, through her maternal grandfather’s side.

René’s maternal grandmother was Hélène Macdonald Stallo (the daughter of Edmund Kittredge/Kitbridge Stallo and Laura Beatrice McDonald/MacDonald). Hélène was an American, from Cincinnati, Ohio. Edmund was the son of German parents, Johann/John Bernhard Stallo, from Oldenburg, and Helena Zimmerman, from Bavaria. Laura was the daughter of Alexander McDonald, who was Scottish, and of Laura Amelia Palmer, who had English ancestry.

Sources: Genealogy of René Auberjonois – http://www.geni.com

René’s maternal great-grandfather, Edmund Kittredge/Kitbridge Stallo, on the 1870 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org