Doctor Crusher
"I play Dr Beverly Crusher, the Chief Medical Officer on the Enterprise. I am of rank second to Riker. In the event that both Riker and Captain Picard are unfit to command the Enterprise, I would take over as Chief Commanding Officer."
"I not only run all the medical units on the Enterprise, but I'm also very much involved in medical policy-making and medical research in the galaxy. My husband was a starship captain and Picard brought his body back to me. It's in question whether my husband died saving Picard or exactly what the circumstances of his death were."
"I must say that although the three women (Crusher, counsellor Deanna Troi and lieutenant Tasha Yar) are strong characters, strength doesn't have to be shown in terms of out-and-out aggression, because the women all have very important positions. I think they have to be strong characters - how could they not be, going out and exploring space in this massive ship? That's an enormous responsibility."
"It's new to have families and children on the Enterprise. What's child care like? Who raises the children? What sort of interaction is there? I think we've had to establish a lot of different things; Beverly Crusher is the doctor so I'm involved in medical research and galactic policy making; certainly with the AIDS crisis we've seen how much of a political as well as a scientific issue medicine is."
"I'm fascinated by my props; I really love working with the designers and the props crew here because we've been having a good time trying to figure out how to use different things and they've been very free in letting me come up with ways of using particular instruments. There are all sorts of things - the tricorder, atomic analysers, mini-computers which detect viruses, malignancies, rate and compositions of the blood flow, laser surgery equipment."

Vision of Star Trek
"I like the ironic and philosophical moments of Star Trek. As a species, perhaps we need to begin to see ourselves more objectively. If we want our childrens' children to prosper we need to confront our problems with greater understanding and begin to take responsibility for our actions. As for irony - how about a doctor with a name like Crusher?"

The name "Crusher"
"It's meant to be lightly ironic. It may derive from the old term "bone crusher", a nickname given to doctors. Now that's rather appropriate don't you think?"

Third season
"I think it's a really good choice to have a doctor or high-ranking officer who's also a mother. Also, Beverly can be romantic. I like that. Because my own mother was a working mother all my life, and she was able to handle a lot of things at once. And I would hope that by the 24th century, it would be even easier."
"I would love to get in more comedy, to take advantage of my background. I'vs done all this clown stuff. I would also love to show more of Dr Crusher's vulnerability. She's a little imperfect in her private life."

Between seasons 6 & 7
"I love anything that's humorous, and I find my character much more straight laced than I would like. There was a point where I was wearing so many wigs that I though we should give her a hobby of hairdressing - maybe she's a closet hairdresser. Maybe you go into her room and she's got rows of wigs and a wig cap. I would be very happy to do that, but they wouldn't let me - it would be too much like M*A*S*H or something."
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