Gates McFadden is Dr. Beverly Crusher:
(transcript from tape by Erich Habich of a talk given by Gates McFadden at the FEDCON 7 in  Bonn, on May 1, 1999)

Gates McFadden on her involvement with Star Trek:

There are sometimes things happening in your life and you don't know why.   I think because it was not something I ever thought about, that I didn't really know the original show.  I was not a big Science Fiction person.

But as I became a part of the show I started to understand the vision of Gene Roddenberry.  It really has influenced me a lot.  It is a very amazing philosophy that he came up with.  This whole prime directive, finding ways of living together, the picture it shows of the future.  I wish everybody had that philosophy.   I was so shocked to see that people continue to live in the past.

And they can't forgive and they can't go forward and I think doctors can help with that.  Maybe that could be the project of another movie.  I know that myself in my own life I've been in an emergency room in a hospital and I have had really good doctors.  And they have made the difference for me.  Because I believed in them and I put my trust in them.  And they were kind and they were understanding.   They were also Star Trek fans.

It makes a difference, you know.  I mean when you're putting your life in someone's hands.

Some people say there will be another movie, some people say there won't.   But certainly the mythology of Star Trek will continue.  With or without Dr. Crusher, I'm sure.

Message Board

Gates McFadden on theater acting:

I like the interaction between the performer and the spectator.  I think it's a magical interaction.  And anything can happen.  There is much more control in Film and Television because they can edit.  When I did a show called "Mad About You" they would not show it until later even though it was filmed live so they could change if something really terrible happened.  But in theater you never know what's going to happen.

For example I did a performance of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" and the lovers were having their big arguments.  We were giving an outside performance with 2000 spectators in Central Park, New York City.

All of a sudden the wind started howling and the temperature dropped.  And it was as if the Gods were doing what we were saying in the play.  It was magical.   Then when at the end of the argument the lovers fall asleep all of a sudden it was calm.

These sort of things can happen in the theater.  And everybody feels the magic inside them.  I really like the unexpectedness of events in the theater.

Gates McFadden supports Doctors without Borders in aid of the Kosovo refugees.

MSF is the world's largest independent medical aid agency and is committed to two objectives: providing medical aid wherever it is needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or sex and raising awareness of the plight of the people they help.

MSF Wins 1999 Nobel Peace Prize

The international medical relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), was  awarded the international Nobel Peace prize in Oslo on 15. October 1999. The award honors the work of all national and international MSF relief workers bringing medical assistance in around 80 countries, over 20 of which are in conflict.