Gates McFadden

Gates McFadden
At the Toronto Sci-Fi Expo, September 2006.
Birth name	Cheryl Gates McFadden
Born	March 2 1949 (1949-03-02) (age 59) Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio United States

Cheryl Gates McFadden (born March 2, 1949, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), usually credited as Gates McFadden, is an American actress and choreographer. She is best known for portraying the character of Dr. Beverly Crusher in the television and film series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Biography

Early life

She attended Brandeis University earning B.A Cum Laude in Theater Arts. After graduating from Brandeis, she moved to Paris and studied theater with actor Jacques LeCoq.

Career

Before Star Trek: The Next Generation, she was mostly known as a choreographer, often working on Jim Henson productions including the films The Dark Crystal, for which she was a choreographer, Labyrinth, for which she served as Director of Choreography and Puppet Movement, and The Muppets Take Manhattan, in which she has a brief on-screen appearance. As a way of distinguishing her acting work from her choreography, she is usually credited as "Gates McFadden" as an actress and "Cheryl McFadden" as a choreographer. She appeared briefly in the Woody Allen film Stardust Memories, and in The Hunt for Red October as Jack Ryan's wife Cathy, though most of her scenes were cut in post-production. McFadden also appeared in the made-for-television movie Crowned and Dangerous with Yasmine Bleeth in 1997. In 1987, McFadden was cast as Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Crusher character was slated to be Captain Jean-Luc Picard's love interest, and this aspect of the character is what attracted McFadden to the role. Another important aspect of the character was being a widow balancing motherhood and a career. Like many of the TNG characters during its first season, the Crusher character wasn't very well developed and there were some disagreements between the show's producers and McFadden about how the character should develop. These disagreements led to some bad blood between her and several executive producers, resulting in McFadden's being released from her contract and not being in TNG's second season. However, her replacement, Diana Muldaur, proved to be unpopular and McFadden was personally asked to return by Rick Berman. At first McFadden was hesitant as she had felt she had moved on, however, after a phone call from co-star Patrick Stewart, McFadden changed her mind and returned.

At the Dallas Comic Con, 2006.
Photo by Corey Bond.

From the third season on, Crusher was still under-used, but the character was mellowed slightly. McFadden remained vocal about her disappointing screen time, especially during TNG movies. McFadden also directed the TNG episode "Genesis" and choreographed the dance routine in "Data's Day". In interviews, she expressed disappointment over not being given the opportunity to direct more episodes despite her requests. In the spring of 2006, McFadden appeared in a series of television commercials for Microsoft. She has taught at several universities and is currently listed as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Theater at the University of Southern California.

Personal life

McFadden now divides her time between Los Angeles and Languedoc, in the south of France, where she and her husband, John Talbot, are restoring an old theater. She has one son, James Cleveland McFadden-Talbot, born in June 1991, who is called Jack.

External links

• Gates McFadden at the Internet Movie Database
• Gates McFadden article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• Gates McFadden at TV.com