A publicity photo of Rene Auberjonois as Colonel West, from a scene that was deleted for the theatrical cut Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
In an interview with Mark Altman in the April 1993 issue of Cinefantastique, the man who would be Odo noted, “I have not seen Star Trek VI. I did it because Nick Meyer is a personal friend and asked me to. I usually play villains and I love them. I remember when my son was much younger and I was doing Richard III at the same time I was doing Benson. He asked, ‘Why do you always play the bad guy,’ And I said ‘It’s because they’re usually the best parts to play.’”
In J.M. Dillard’s Where No One Has Gone Before: A History In Pictures, Auberjonois gave a little more detail about the experience: “[Nick Meyer] called months before they started it. He said, 'It would be a hoot if you came and did a day's work on it.' I did it as a lark.”
West would reappear in the home video release of the film, with the inclusion of the above scene in the UFP President’s office as well as a reveal that he was one of the “Klingon” assassins who was stopped in the movie’s climax. Interestingly, any home video versions of the movie released after 2009 have reverted to the theatrical cut.
West’s name is an unsubtle nod to Colonel Oliver North, one of the lynchpins of the Iran-Contra Affair. North played an important part in the illegal sale of arms to Iran with the profits being funnelled to the Contras in Nicaragua.
While the character is given the rank of Colonel, West’s uniform indicates that he’s a vice admiral.
Photo scanned from my personal collection.
