Gates McFadden: Ungracious?

[Red Ranger]

People:

First off, in the interest of full disclosure, let me say I have a bias againt both the character of Dr. Beverly Crusher and the actress who plays her, Gates McFadden.

Now, I've heard she has often been sarcastic and ungracious when meeting fans. I have not met her personally, but I did see a special where this geek interviewed her as if she were Dr. Crusher, and she seemed to take offense, whereas the other actors just played along with it.

Wanted to know if any of you here have met her and how that meeting went, good or bad. I just keep hearing how rude and obnoxious she can be to fans -- she better quit it, because it doesn't seem casting directors are knocking down her door to cast her in anything else. That is, unless you count that horrid Microsoft ad she was in awhile ago.

Discuss.

Red Ranger

 

[Nedersong]

I personally don't listen to rumors like these. They seem too much like jealous people trying to bring her down anyway they can. However, the only thing that could settle these claims is to have it captured on tape.

 

[Red Ranger]

I personally don't listen to rumors like these. They seem too much like jealous people trying to bring her down anyway they can. However, the only thing that could settle these claims is to have it captured on tape.

True. If I had a link to the show I told you about, I'd post it. I didn't get a good feeling about her when I saw it, though.

Now, here is a clip of an interview she gave on the old Joan Rivers Show. Take a look at some of the comments under the clip -- some confirmation of the attitude she sports toward fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntrmzQuqRhc

Red Ranger

 

[LeadHead]

Every celeb has fans that are easy to deal with and one that you wouldn't get within a city block without a bodyguard. My bet would be on based on my own experiences, that she has her good and bad days with the fans.

 

[Flibble]

I met her at a signing event a year or so ago, and she was polite and happy to meet the fans.

 

[Cali]

I met her at a signing event a few years ago and again she was lovely.

 

[trekker670]

I met here 4 years ago, I think, along with Michael Dorn both of whom were very nice. My dad and I stayed and chatted with them for about a half hour.

 

[mythme]

Oh my goodness, look how gorgeous her hair is in that clip! why didn't the TNG producers go with THAT!

 

[The Old Mixer]

They had problems with natural hair in Season 1--it tended to become unmanagable when under studio lights for hours. So they made her wear wigs when she came back.

 

[Jeri]

Thanks for the link to those clips! I hadn't seen them, and they were fun. She seems quite gracious toward the fans, I thought.

 

[Vanyel]

Oh my goodness, look how gorgeous her hair is in that clip! why didn't the TNG producers go with THAT!

They had problems with natural hair in Season 1--it tended to become unmanagable when under studio lights for hours. So they made her wear wigs when she came back.

Back up. She was wearing a wig during the series?

 

[Cali]

I'm sure I've definitely seen it written somewhere that she was wearing wigs because her real hair kept having to be re-done because of the lights.

 

[SonicRanger]

I met her, she was nothing less than pleasant.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yep, wigs from Season 3 on. Season 1 was her natural hair.

 

[Jon1701]

I'm sure I've definitely seen it written somewhere that she was wearing wigs because her real hair kept having to be re-done because of the lights.

Yup.

Was a contributing factor to her being dropped in Season 1.

"Look, we don't like the way your character is going and your hair is making things too long to shoot..."

 

[DeeEss57]

"Look, we don't like the way your character is going and your hair is making things too long to shoot..."

Well, that's a good reason to fire someone.


DES

 

[sbk1234]

I met her only once, and it seemed like a very strained politeness she was showing. She didn't strike me as a particularly warm person.
But, what do I know? I may have gotten her on one of her bad days. Truth be told, I've had my share, too.

 

[JustKate]

Oh, heck. I met Douglas Adams once. (He's the only person whose autograph I've ever waited in line for -- not that there aren't other people I like as well, but I just don't very often go to events where you can get folks' autographs.) And he was pretty much an autograph-giving machine -- no smile, no comment, nothing, no personality at ALL.

I don't say this to criticize the man -- I still love his books, I loved the talk I went to (it was Adams and Ray Bradbury -- fabulous!), and I cherish the copy of The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts he signed for me. So I don't hold it against the guy; I think he was simply not a crowd-living person or was tired or both...or something else was going on (a cramp in his hand maybe?).

But there it is. You cannot tell what someone is like based on a few seconds in a meet-the-celebrity line. I mean, sure, the person curses at you or asks you for a date, you are certainly entitled to make some assumptions. But anything signficantly less obvious and I think you are making an assumption without any real data. So why do it? That's how I feel, anyway.

Bradbury didn't sign autographs at this event. I could get all indignant and think that maybe it was because he didn't feel "gracious," but I suspect that the reason is that this was shortly after he'd had a stroke, and signing autographs wasn't something he could cope very well with at that time.

So my advice, which everybody's perfectly free to ignore, of course, is to assume until you have actual evidence otherwise that celebrities, like the rest of us, have fairly good reasons for their behavior. You'll be a lot happier that way -- unless of course thinking that some of the actors on shows you enjoy are jerks gives you pleasure.

 

[WillsBabe]

But there it is. You cannot tell what someone is like based on a few seconds in a meet-the-celebrity line.

I agree. I worked a con once where one of the actors was going down a storm with the attendees. Everyone adored him. His character and he are still massively popular to this day (its an old show and not Trek). Behind the scenes he was causing massive, massive problems for the organisers. To this day they have never said a word about it. His reputation and popularity remains intact.

I worked another con where I was another actor's guest liasion. Very late Saturday evening he was tired and feeling unwell. We were heading back to my car to return him to his hotel. He was well and truly off duty. We rounded a corner and unexpectedly came across a handful of fans. They were delighted to see him. He "switched on" and became a different person for his fans. It was amazing to see. Out of sight he became the tired human being again.

What I'm trying to say is that much is an act for the public and often it's hard to tell what the real person is.

 

[Brolan]

It's hard to know what to say about this. If you just met me you would probably say I wasn't warm either. I'm not good at small talk and the way some people act (like a person they just saw for the first time is good friend) seems phony to me.