Rene Auberjonois, a prolific actor best known for his roles on the television shows "Benson" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and his part in the 1970 film "M.A.S.H." playing Father Mulcahy, has died. He was 79.

The actor died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles of metastatic lung cancer, his son Rèmy-Luc Auberjonois told The Associated Press.

René Auberjonois worked constantly as a character actor in several golden ages, from the dynamic theater of the 1960s to the cinema renaissance of the 1970s to the prime period of network television in the 1980s and 1990s — and each generation knew him for something different.

For film fans of the 1970s, he was Father John Mulcahy, the military chaplain who played straight man to the doctors' antics in "M.A.S.H." It was his first significant film role and the first of several for director Robert Altman.

For sitcom watchers of the 1980s, he was Clayton Runnymede Endicott III, the hopelessly highbrow chief of staff at a governor's mansion on "Benson," the ABC series whose title character was a butler played by Robert Guillaume.

And for sci-fi fans of the 1990s and convention-goers ever since, he was Odo, the shape-shifting Changeling and head of space-station security on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

"I am all of those characters, and I love that," Auberjonois said in a 2011 interview with the "Star Trek" website. "I also run into people, and they think I'm their cousin or their dry cleaner. I love that, too."

Fellow stars from "Star Trek" shows praised the actor on Twitter.

William Shatner said that "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."

George Takei tweeted: ""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."

Auberjonois was born in New York in 1940, the son of Fernand Auberjonois, Swiss-born foreign correspondent for U.S. newspapers, and the grandson of a Swiss post-impressionist painter also named René Auberjonois.

The younger René Auberjonois was raised in New York, Paris, and London, and for a time lived with his family in an artists' colony in Rockland County, New York, whose residents included the actors John Houseman, Helen Hayes and Burgess Meredith.

After graduating from college at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon, Auberjonois hopped around the country joining theater companies, eventually landing three roles on Broadway in 1968, including playing the Fool in a long-running version of King Lear.

The following year he would play Sebastian Baye opposite Katharine Hepburn in "Coco," a play on the life of designer Coco Chanel that would earn him a Tony for best actor in a leading role in a musical.

He would later see Tony nominations for 1973's "The Good Doctor," 1984's "Big River," and 1989's "City of Angels."

In 1970, Auberjonois began his run with Altman, playing Mulcahy in "M.A.S.H."

In his most famous exchange from the movie, Sally Kellerman's Margaret Houlihan wonders how such a degenerate doctor as Donald Sutherland's Hawkeye Pierce could reach a position of responsibility in the U.S. Army.

A bible-reading Auberjonois responds, deadpan: "He was drafted."

"I actually made that line up when we were rehearsing the scene," Auberjonois said on the podcast "The Gist" in 2016. "And it became a kind of an iconic line for the whole film."

The same year he played an off-the-wall ornithologist in Altman's "Brewster McCloud," played a saloonkeeper alongside Warren Beatty in the director's western "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" in 1971 and appeared in Altman's "Images" in 1972.

He spent much of the rest of the 1970s doing guest spots on TV shows before joining the cast of "Benson" in its second season in 1980, where he would remain for the rest of the show's seven seasons, playing the patrician political adviser and chronic hypochondriac Endicott.

Much of his later career was spent doing voices for animation, most memorably as the French chef who sings the love song to fish-killing "Les Poissons" in Disney's 1989 "The Little Mermaid."

He played Odo on "Deep Space Nine" from 1993 until 1999 and became a regular at "Star Trek" conventions, where he raised money for Doctors Without Borders and signed autographs with a drawing of Odo's bucket, where the character would store himself when he returned to his natural gelatinous state.

Auberjonois was also a regular on the ABC law-firm dramedy "Boston Legal" from 2004 to 2008.

Late in his career, Auberjonois would work with independent filmmakers including the artful director Kelly Reichardt, for whom he appeared in 2016's "Certain Women" and 2019's "First Cow," his final role.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 56 years, writer Judith Auberjonois; sisters Marie-Laure Degener and Anne Auberjonois; daughter Tessa Auberjonois; son-in-law Adrian Latourelle, daughter-in-law Kate Nowlin and three grandchildren.

A theatrical version of Pride and Prejudice, a classic work of British novelist Jane Austen, will be staged at the Beijing Poly Theater from Dec. 10 to 12.

The play, adapted from the renowned 1813 romantic novel, tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, their five daughters, and the various romantic adventures at their Hertfordshire residence of Longbourn.

Directed by acclaimed director Philip Godawa, the play will be presented by Chinese actors and actresses in oral Chinese of old times to correspond to the 19th-century England where the novel was set, according to the play's production team.

The team said it is also planning to produce a musical version of Pride and Prejudice.

Celebrities including Diplo, Playboi Carti and PnB Rock paid tribute to slain Florida rapper XXXTentacion during the week of parties surrounding Art Basel Miami.

Hundreds of fans gathered at a posthumous album release party Thursday night to be the first to hear XXXTentacion's Bad Vibes Forever. Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Noah Cyrus and Tory Lanez appear on the album.

Some fans camped out for hours to ensure entrance to the party. At midnight, the album played as emotional videos of the slain rapper played on a screen behind the stage. XXXTentacion's mother stood onstage, hugging family and friends and occasionally dancing to the music. She said she was trying to stay positive.

Earlier in the night, Diplo took to the DJ booth as fans lined up for free tattoos and perused an outdoor museum filled with XXXTentacion memorabilia, including three wax statues, family photos and hand-written notes.

The car that XXXTentacion was last seen alive in was also on display. The 20-year-old was gunned down while leaving a motorcycle shop in 2018. His sudden death shocked fans, many of whom unleashed praise for him. Others were more critical of the troubled rapper and pointed to his multiple arrests, including charges that he severely beat and abused his girlfriend.

Four suspects were arrested in connection with his death.

Little Arthur crawls out of bed in his red Marvel Comics pajamas, brushes his teeth and strolls outside after breakfast to his day job: helping out at the family hardware store in Rhayader, Wales. It's Christmas and Arthur, nearly 3, has his work cut out for him wrapping presents, hanging ornaments and helping customers.

But the cute video with 1.3 million views on YouTube - and counting - comes with a larger larger message. Don't forget the little guy.

"The small little family owned businesses still exist out there,'' said Arthur's dad, Thomas Lewis Jones, 30. ''If you can afford to shop locally, do so. If you can't. I hope you just enjoy the video.''

Big Christmas ads have become a tradition in Britain — an opportunity usually for much larger companies to pull out all the stops to woo holiday shoppers and stamp their brands firmly on the consumer brain. These are usually mini movies, similar to Super Bowl showstoppers in the United States, that feature warm and fuzzy characters like lovestruck penguins and mythical creatures who reveal the true meaning of Christmas.

These ads don't normally originate in a town 200 miles from London and have a budget of 100 pounds ($130).

Yet this simple, day in the life of Arthur promotional video has drawn attention to much larger problems of bricks and mortar U.K. retailers this Christmas, struggling as they do with issues ranging from the steady losses to internet retailers to a controversial local tax system whose reform is constantly discussed.

Despite initiatives, such as Small Business Saturday, stores really are facing challenges. They are often dwarfed by the bigger stores that can offer better prices and more selection. Many have a tough time getting through each year.

"What this video has done is throw into the spotlight the very real challenges that smaller firms throughout the U.K. are actually facing,'' said Mike Cherry, the national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. "They are facing spiraling business rates, high rents and online competition, expensive town center parking and the loss of bank branches and ATMs. All of these issues make for a perfect storm that is putting many small businesses at risk."

Jones, who runs Hafod Hardware, simply made Arthur his go-to star to promote the store. Arthur's supporting cast is his grandfather, John, his great-grandfather Alan and his great-grandmother Pauline. The filmmaker, Josh Holdaway, is a family friend and has a cameo appearance.

Since being posted Monday, Jones' phone has not stopped ringing. At the time he was speaking to The Associated Press on Friday, he noted with some degree of astonishment that the video was popular in Japan. It's also big in Australia. And Morocco - and so on.

But for Jones, it was a movie for his neighbors, too.

"People have been coming in this morning saying congratulations... they've been bringing in bottles of champagne for us to say well done," he told Britain's Press Association. ""The locals are incredible, they're our bread and butter. We're very lucky to have the community we have here in Rhayader."

The ad ends with Arthur transforming into his father in the act of putting the Christmas tree on his shoulder. It urges everyone to to "#Be a Kid this Christmas.''

"You get an experience when you go into a shop like ours,'' Jones said. "You get personal service.''

Actress Rafiath Rashid Mithila and Tollywood director Srijit Mukherji have finally tied the knot.

The marriage was solemnised through registry at Sujit’s South Kolkata flat on Friday evening, reports Anandabazar.

Some friends and close relatives were present at the marriage ceremony.

It was learnt that the couple will fly for Geneva on Saturday for honeymoon.

Mithila and popular singer and actor Tahsan married each other in 2006. However, they got divorced in May 2017 ending their 11-year conjugal life.

Srijit had been in a relationship with Mithia for the last one year. Srijit first introduced Mithila to his friends at a private bash at the start of the year, reports Times of India.

Mithila, who began her modelling career in 2002, did her Master’s in political science from Dhaka University and completed her second Master’s in Early Childhood Development.

A theatre artiste and painter, she also carved a niche for herself in Bangladeshi television and has a considerable body of work in child development.