Gates McFadden was a choreographer before she was a doctor on the Enterprise, and it shows: she knows exactly what to do while somebody else is talking. The writing rarely rewarded her for it.
Fi1m perspective
In Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), Beverly Crusher stands behind Picard. That is most of what she is asked to do in 116 minutes, and it is worth watching how she does it: still, upright, attentive, listening. Gates McFadden came to television from choreography and physical theatre, having studied with Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and the training is visible whenever the camera is not on her. She is never slack in the frame. It is a small gift and a real one, and Star Trek leaned on it for the better part of two decades.
By the mid-1980s she was arranging puppet movement for Jim Henson on The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and Labyrinth (1986). Then came Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Crusher, the chief medical officer who is also a mother and, on occasion, Picard's love interest. It did not begin smoothly. Her contract was not renewed after the first season, after clashes over how the character was written; she has said she kept asking the writers "Why is it that I've raised this genius kid...and yet every time there's anything serious it's only the male characters who talk to him?" The audience wanted her back, Patrick Stewart telephoned, and she returned for seasons three to seven.
The series is her best work, because it is the only place that gave her time. She plays Crusher with quiet authority and an evident compassion, and in our review we counted her among the people who make the ensemble feel like company worth returning to, which in a programme this solemn is not a small thing. She also went behind the camera, directing the 1994 episode "Genesis" and choreographing another, and she has called that final season her best. The films are another matter. In Star Trek: Generations (1994) she gets a scene or two; Star Trek: First Contact (1996) does not need her for much; in Nemesis she stands behind Picard, and we found we minded that more than the film did, since the cutting plainly removed whatever she had been given.
The pattern of her career is that of an actor cast as physicians, judges and executives, women whose competence is the point, and then written as if competence were enough to fill a scene. It is not, and she knows it is not, which is why she keeps giving the frame something to look at. She came back to Crusher in Star Trek: Picard in 2023. If you want to see what she does, watch the series, where there is room for it. The films will show you a good doctor standing where the script left her.
Biography
Gates McFadden is an American actress and choreographer. Born on 2 March 1949, she studied theatre arts at Brandeis University, graduating cum laude, and later trained with Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Before becoming widely known as an actor she worked extensively as a choreographer and movement director, notably on Jim Henson productions including Labyrinth (1986), for which she served as director of choreography and puppet movement, and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), in which she also appeared on screen.
She is best known for portraying Dr. Beverly Crusher in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994, with a season-two absence) and its four feature films: Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). She reprised the role in the third season of Star Trek: Picard (2023). Other film credits include The Hunt for Red October (1990). McFadden has also appeared in guest roles on series such as Mad About You and Marker, and maintains a career in stage acting, directing and teaching.
