Gates McFadden
Cheryl Gates McFadden  has portrayed Beverly Crusher, MD, in most episodes of  and in four . McFadden also directed the seventh season episode  and choreographed the dance routine in .

McFadden left the series at the end of the first season and was replaced by Diana Muldaur as Doctor Katherine Pulaski in the second season. An official announcement states that McFadden had left the series to pursue other career options. McFadden herself got a call from her agent who told her that the producers decided to go in another direction with the character. Like the other cast members, McFadden was surprised. ("Gates McFadden &NDASH; Dr. Beverly Crusher", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 12, p. 43)

In Making It So: Continuing Star Trek - The Next Generation, Part 2: "New Life and New Civilizations," McFadden states that she was fired. She was too vocal to the show's staff regarding some of the writing on The Next Generation being sexist, and was unsavvy at the time regarding studio politics. Patrick Stewart described the entire cast as being "horrified and appalled," that they had never expected that her comments would lead to it, and it having been a terrible shock. McFadden herself was stunned, as Gene Roddenberry had told her that her character was the third most popular on the series. Ultimately, she felt that she spoke her mind "in a way that really pissed people off" and it was a good lesson to learn.

But thanks to a letter-writing campaign, support from Stewart, and a personal invitation from Rick Berman, McFadden was brought back to the TNG cast for the third and subsequent seasons. McFadden was absent for all episodes of the second season, was mentioned in , and only appeared in stock footage in  which was used from the first season episodes  and .

During her break from Star Trek, McFadden played Cathy Ryan (coincidentally another doctor with a husband named Jack) in the movie , although most of her scenes were edited from the film. She returned to Manhattan for the break where she performed in a play and took up her pre-Trek teaching post in acting and improvisation at the New York University's Graduate School of the Arts.

McFadden became pregnant with her first child during the fourth season of TNG, learning of the pregnancy only days after performing her own stunts for the episode . This explains her absence during the last part of the season. Although the directors were able to hide her pregnancy behind objects and Crusher's trademark lab coat, it was briefly visible in some episodes, including . Her son was born over hiatus; Brent Spiner is his godfather. McFadden has been quoted as saying her son grew up on the bridge of the , and he was upset when the sets were torn down following .

Gates McFadden is an accomplished dancer and puppeteer; she worked on several Jim Henson productions as a choreographer, most notably in the film Labyrinth (she also choreographed movement for The Dark Crystal, and made her film acting debut in The Muppets Take Manhattan). She prefers stage roles to television, and has been seen in countless productions over her career. She is trained in stage swordfighting; ironically, only she and Marina Sirtis were trained in the technique which was featured in  but only the male characters were allowed to use swords.

In 1992, McFadden appeared alongside fellow castmembers Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, and Colm Meaney in a production of  directed by Stewart, which was performed in four cities. In 2011, McFadden began a recurring role as judge Mallory Jacobs on the legal comedy television series Franklin and Bash having her working again with Malcolm McDowell. McFadden debuted in the first season finale "Go Tell it on the Mountain" where as Jacobs, presided over the trial of Macdowell's character Stanton Infeld. McFadden returned in the second season, first in "For Those About to Rock" joining Geoffrey Blake, Peter Weller and Tom Wright and again in the season finale "650 to SLC" reuniting with  guest star Erich Anderson. Anderson himself has a recurring role on the series.

McFadden narrated the 2021 documentary series The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek and was one of its executive producers.

Trivia
Ensign Gates, the conn officer played by Joycelyn Robinson and seen throughout the third through seventh season, was named for her. ()
McFadden starred in the short-lived drama Marker, which was one of the pilot series on UPN alongside .
McFadden's birth date is somewhat unclear; official promotional material from Paramount Pictures lists her birthday as August 28, 1953 while the IMDb lists it as March 2, 1949. Public records indicate that a "Cheryl G. McFadden" was born in 1949 and McFadden has admitted that she makes up dates since she is uncomfortable with revealing her true birth date. Given that she graduated from Brandeis in 1970, it is likely that she was born before 1953.
She stars in the Microsoft People Ready Business commercials aired on television.

Additional characters

Appearances on Star Trek

Season One
Season Two:  (archive footage from "Symbiosis" and "Skin of Evil")
Season Three to Season Seven (all episodes except )
 (1994)
 (1996)
 (1998)
 (2002)
 (hologram)

Star Trek interviews
McFadden was interviewed for the following Star Trek specials:
 TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis"
 TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Three" ("The Doctor Returns"), interviewed on 
TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Three" ("Crew Profile: Beverly and Wesley Crusher"), interviewed on 27 September 1989
 TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four" ("Celebrating 100 Episodes"), interviewed by Entertainment Tonight in 
TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Inside the Star Trek Archives" ("Cast Member Hides Pregnancy"), interviewed on 
 TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene's Final Voyage")
 TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Seven" ("An Ending And A Beginning"), interviewed on 7 April 1994
TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Seven: Production" ("New Director, New Challenges", "Creating Stronger Women"), interviewed on 7 April 1994
TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven" ("A Unique Family"), interviewed on 7 April 1994
TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "The Making of "All Good Things…" Year Seven" ("Make Up", ""), interviewed on 7 April 1994

"Gates McFadden – Dr. Beverly Crusher", , interviewed by Marc Shapiro
"Medical Cases", , interviewed by Dennis Fischer
"Gates McFadden – Dr. Beverly Crusher", , interviewed by Monika Gutman
 Blu-ray special feature The Unknown Possibilities of Existence: Making "All Good Things" ()

External links
 

Gates McFadden at Twitter

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