René Auberjonois's net worth at the time of his death in December 2019 is most credibly estimated at around $5 million. That figure comes from the most widely cited sources, including Celebrity Net Worth, and it holds up reasonably well when you work backward through his six decades of professional acting, his long-running TV roles, and at least one documented real-estate asset worth close to $1.8 million.
René Auberjonois Net Worth Estimate and Wealth Sources
Laurent Devereaux
1 May 2026
Which René Auberjonois are we talking about?
If you searched for this name and landed somewhere unexpected, you're not alone. The name Auberjonois is a notable Swiss-French family name, and there is a well-known René Auberjonois who was a Swiss Post-Impressionist painter (1872–1957). Some search results, especially older ones, surface that artist instead of the actor. There's also occasional confusion with other public figures named René, including René Angélil (Céline Dion's late manager) and France-Albert René (the former president of Seychelles), who sometimes appear in the same wealth-profile silo. If you are looking for France-Albert René net worth, it helps to remember that his public financial profile is often conflated online with other people named René. Those René Angélil results can be a distraction if you're actually looking for René Auberjonois and his net worth estimate. René Angélil, Céline Dion's longtime manager, is often searched in the same net-worth conversations, which is where confusion starts.
The René Auberjonois this article is about is the American actor René Marie Murat Auberjonois, born June 1, 1940, who died December 8, 2019, at age 79 from metastatic lung cancer. His IMDb page and every major entertainment database list him consistently under that full name. He is the one with the $5 million net-worth estimate, not the painter and not any other public figure sharing the surname.
The net worth estimate: what the number is and what it rests on
Multiple independent aggregators, including Celebrity Net Worth, Celebrity Birthdays (which cross-references Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider), and NetWorthList.org, all land on $5 million. That level of agreement across sources that don't copy each other directly is a reasonable signal the figure is in the right ballpark. One outlier site (Moonchildrenfilms.com) puts the number at $10 million, but that site gives no methodology and appears to be an aggregator that simply doubled the mainstream figure.
The $5 million estimate is not a verified audited figure. No estate filing or probate record has been made public. It is a modeled estimate based on career length, the types of roles he held, standard SAG-AFTRA pay scales for television, residuals, and any documented assets. With that caveat clear, $5 million is defensible. The $10 million figure is possible but requires assuming unusually high salaries or undisclosed income streams, neither of which is supported by available evidence.
Where the money actually came from
Television: Benson and Deep Space Nine
His two biggest steady income sources were the ABC sitcom Benson (1980–1986), where he played Clayton Endicott for six seasons, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), where he played the shapeshifting security chief Odo for all seven seasons. A seven-season run on a network franchise series is a significant financial anchor. Lead and recurring cast members on Star Trek series have historically earned anywhere from low five figures per episode in the early 1990s to well above that by the late 1990s. Multiply that across 173 episodes and you have a substantial base even before residuals.
Film: M*A*S*H and beyond
He played Father Mulcahy in Robert Altman's 1970 film MAS*H, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and became one of the highest-grossing films of its year. Film residuals from a movie with that kind of longevity (it's been in rotation on cable, streaming, and home video for decades) would have contributed a steady if modest income stream throughout his life. He also appeared in dozens of other films over his career, each carrying its own residual tail.
Stage work and the Tony Award
Auberjonois won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, which marks him as a genuine Broadway-level talent, not just a TV actor. Broadway contracts are union-governed and don't generate the same residuals as screen work, but Tony-winning productions typically pay well above scale, and the award itself boosts earning power across all adjacent work, including casting for film and TV.
Voice acting
His IMDb credits include a significant volume of voice-acting work, including animated series and video games. Voice work is often underestimated in net-worth discussions, but for an actor with his profile and range, recurring voice roles can generate meaningful supplemental income, including residuals from repeat broadcasts of animated series.
How celebrity net-worth estimates actually get built
Most net-worth figures you see online for actors like Auberjonois are reverse-engineered from publicly available information, not from actual financial disclosures. Here is what researchers typically look at:
- Episode count and series tenure multiplied by estimated per-episode fees at SAG-AFTRA minimums or above
- Residual income from syndication, basic cable, and streaming under SAG-AFTRA agreements (residuals are triggered each time a production is re-aired or made available on a new platform)
- Real-estate records, which are public in California and can reveal purchase prices, sale prices, and mortgage activity
- Known major life purchases or visible lifestyle signals reported in media
- Award and career milestones that signal earning power above scale
In Auberjonois's case, at least one real-estate transaction is on record: a Windsor Square home in Los Angeles sold for approximately $1.8 million. That single asset alone accounts for more than a third of the $5 million estimate, and it's a confirmed data point, not speculation. The rest of the estimate is built from career earnings logic.
Residuals matter more than most people realize. SAG-AFTRA contracts require that actors receive residual payments every time a production is re-aired on broadcast, basic cable, foreign free TV, or streaming. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has been in continuous distribution since the 1990s, including on Paramount+ in recent years. Under the SAG-AFTRA streaming residual structure updated in 2023, high-viewership streaming titles generate bonus residuals tied to performance thresholds. While exact figures are not public, it is reasonable to assume DS9's long afterlife generated a meaningful residual stream for Auberjonois over roughly 25 years.
How his wealth probably grew over time
| Career Phase | Key Activity | Likely Financial Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s–1970s | Broadway work, MAS*H film, early stage career, Tony Award win | Moderate base, reputation-building, above-scale stage fees, early film residuals begin |
| 1980–1986 | Six seasons on Benson (ABC) | Steady television income, first significant residual accumulation from syndication |
| 1987–1992 | Film and TV guest work, voice roles | Maintained income, diversified residual streams, no anchor series |
| 1993–1999 | Seven seasons as Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Peak earning period: 173 episodes, franchise-level salary, strong residual foundation laid |
| 2000–2019 | Guest roles, voice acting, continued residuals from DS9 and MAS*H | Lower active income but residuals from prior work provided sustained cash flow; real-estate asset holds value |
The DS9 years were almost certainly his highest-earning period in terms of active income. After 1999, he remained working but without another anchor series. However, residuals from DS9 alone would have continued paying for the rest of his life, and MAS*H residuals had already been accumulating for nearly three decades by that point.
Why online figures contradict each other
The $5 million vs. $10 million gap you see across different sites has a straightforward explanation. Net-worth aggregator sites use different methodologies, and many simply copy or extrapolate from each other rather than doing independent research. The sites that show $10 million tend to be lower-credibility aggregators that apply an inflation multiplier or arbitrarily double a baseline estimate without supporting evidence.
Another common source of confusion is that net-worth pages for deceased celebrities often stop updating after the person dies. An estimate that was modeled in 2015 may still be live in 2026, even though it reflected a different era of streaming residual rates and real-estate values. Always check when a net-worth page was last updated and whether the methodology is explained.
It is also worth noting that net-worth figures for actors do not account for taxes, agent/manager fees (typically 15–20% of gross earnings), lifestyle expenses, or estate planning moves. A gross career earnings figure could be several times the net-worth estimate once all of those reductions are factored in. The $5 million figure almost certainly reflects a net, post-expense picture, not gross lifetime earnings.
How to sanity-check the number yourself
If you want to go further than just accepting the headline figure, here is a practical checklist:
- Start with Celebrity Net Worth as a baseline. It is not perfect, but it is the most consistently researched of the major aggregators and gives $5 million for Auberjonois.
- Cross-reference with IMDb to count his credited episodes and films. More episodes in long-running series generally means more residuals.
- Check California public property records (LA County Assessor's website) for any real-estate activity under his name or his estate. The Windsor Square sale at approximately $1.8 million is already documented.
- Look for probate filings in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Auberjonois died in December 2019, so estate proceedings, if public, would have been filed in 2019 or 2020. Probate records are one of the few ways to get close to a real net-worth figure.
- Ignore any site that shows $10 million or higher without citing specific salary disclosures, real-estate records, or sourced reporting. Treat it as a noise figure until proven otherwise.
- For residuals context, the SAG-AFTRA website explains how residuals are calculated for broadcast, basic cable, and streaming. Use it to understand the floor-level payments he would have received, even if exact amounts are not public.
No public source will give you a fully verified number. What you can do is build a floor: at least $1.8 million in documented real estate, plus a plausible career earnings model that comfortably supports a $5 million net figure. Anything significantly above that requires evidence, and the evidence simply isn't there yet for the $10 million claim.
FAQ
Why can’t we verify René Auberjonois’s exact net worth from public records?
For a private individual, there is no publicly verifiable “final” number the way there might be for a public company. The best you can do is treat online figures as modeled estimates, then compare the stated update date and whether the site explains its method (for example, using documented property values plus residual assumptions).
How can an outdated net-worth page change the $5 million versus $10 million numbers?
Because net-worth pages often become stale, the estimate might reflect older salary baselines and residual rules. If a page has not been updated since the mid-2010s, it can understate or overstate the current value depending on real-estate appreciation and streaming residual rate changes.
Does the $1.8 million home fully explain the net worth estimate?
Real estate is one of the few areas where a concrete datapoint can exist, but net worth includes other holdings too (investments, retirement accounts, cash, and possible trusts). Even if a house sale is known, the rest of the figure can still swing widely because those other components are usually not documented.
Is the reported net worth based on gross income or what he actually kept?
It depends what the estimate is modeling. “Net worth” is generally after major deductions and net of liabilities, while sites sometimes start from gross career earnings logic. A $5 million net estimate can correspond to much higher gross income once taxes, agent commissions, and living costs are considered.
How much can streaming residuals realistically move the estimate up or down?
Yes. Streaming residuals often vary by contract, performance thresholds, and whether content moves across platforms and regions. If residual assumptions are vague or outdated, that is a common reason one site lands at $10 million while others stay closer to $5 million.
Do voice-acting credits materially affect René Auberjonois’s net worth estimate?
Not necessarily. Voice roles can be recurring and can generate residuals too, but they are usually smaller on a per-project basis than major live-action network series pay. They are more likely to support the estimate than to create a sudden jump by themselves.
What’s the most common search mistake that leads to the wrong René net-worth figure?
Look for the “identity match” first. Search results can mix him up with other René Auberjonois names (including the painter) and with other public figures like René Angélil. If the page does not clearly match birth and death dates and major credits like Deep Space Nine, treat the number as unreliable for the actor.
Why might his net worth at death not reflect his highest-earning period?
Net worth at death can differ from net worth during peak earning years. If he had high earnings during the DS9 run, spending, taxes, and investment outcomes after 1999 could still reduce, stabilize, or increase the final estate value.
How can I sanity-check whether the $10 million claim has credible support?
If you want a practical way to sanity-check the $5 million claim, build a minimum floor from documented assets (like the roughly $1.8 million transaction) and ask whether a plausible residual stream from long-running work plus moderate investment growth could support the remaining balance. If a site gives $10 million without a comparable evidence trail, it often signals weak methodology.