Gates McFadden
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| Gates McFadden | |
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 At the Toronto Sci-Fi Expo, September 2006. |
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| Born | Cheryl Gates McFadden March 2, 1949 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 Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and subsequent films.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
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. McFadden left after the first season, in part because series executive producer Gene Roddenberry was never enthusiastic about casting McFadden in the first place. Roddenberry also wanted to give the role of ship's doctor to actress Diana Muldaur, with whom he had worked on the original Star Trek series and other occasions. Muldaur's character, Dr. Katherine Pulaski, proved very unpopular with fans and left the show after the second season. McFadden was approached to return for the third season. [1] At first she was hesitant, but after a phone call from co-star Patrick Stewart, McFadden was persuaded to reprise her role.[citation needed]
From the third season on, Dr. Crusher was still rather under-used, but the character was mellowed slightly. Her highlights include: The High Ground, in which Dr. Crusher is kidnapped by terrorists. Remember Me, when Dr. Crusher's fear of losing loved ones becomes real when her worries create an alternate reality. Suspicions, where Dr. Crusher puts her career on the line to prove a scientist's theoretical new technology, "Sub Rosa," in which Dr. Crusher is pursued by an unusual being that represents himself as a ghost, and Attached, in which Dr. Crusher and Picard are imprisoned and linked together via a telepathic device, discovering their true feelings for each other in the process. McFadden also directed the TNG episode Genesis and choreographed the dance routine in Data's Day.
The 1990 comedy Taking Care of Business starring James Belushi, co-starred McFadden and another TNG actor, John DeLancie (aka Q).
Gates co-starred in the 1995 TV series Marker with Richard Grieco.
McFadden also appeared in the made-for-television movie Crowned and Dangerous with Yasmine Bleeth in 1997.
In the spring of 2006, McFadden appeared in a series of television commercials for Microsoft.
McFadden enjoys attending Star Trek Conventions and autograph signing events to meet fans.
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.[1]
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
- Gates McFadden at the Internet Movie Database
- Gates McFadden article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- Gates McFadden at TV.com
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