Amanda McBroom, who played Captain Louvois in the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Measure of a Man,” is actually a veteran singer and songwriter as well as an actor. She wrote the title song for the Bette Midler movie The Rose. The song earned McBroom a Grammy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination, and Midler landed an Oscar nomination.
TNG fans learned in “The Measure of a Man” that a decade earlier, Captain Louvois prosecuted Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) over the destruction of the USS Stargazer during the Battle of Maxia. The story picks up with Louvois and Picard, who apparently had engaged in a romance at some point, coming face to face over the complex question of whether Data (Brent Spiner) should be considered a sentient being or the property of Starfleet. McBroom was terrific in the role and nailed her most memorable line, in which she noted that Picard remains “a damn sexy man.”
The episode aired in February of 1989, nearly a decade after The Rose catapulted Bette Midler to big-screen stardom. The film, released in November of 1979, featured Midler’s acting debut. She played a Janis Joplin-esque singer, a brilliantly talented performer undone by the pressures of fame, self-doubt, and outside forces. McBroom did not write “The Rose” for the film. She wrote it for herself a couple of years earlier and frequently performed it during club dates. Midler reportedly selected it from a grouping of 30 songs presented to her for soundtrack consideration.
Ultimately, the song peaked at #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 list and went gold, selling more than 1 million copies. Midler earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in The Rose, and McBroom won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song -- Motion Picture. At the Grammys, Midler took home the award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, while McBroom earned a Song of the Year nomination. “The Rose” was not eligible for a Best Song Oscar because it was not written specifically for the movie.
Still vibrant and active in her 70s, McBroom regularly performs club dates, teaches master classes, and released her most recent album, Wintersong, in 2024. She’s also set to appear at Creation Entertainment’s mega-convention, STLV: Trek to Las Vegas, in August as one of the event's many Star Trek personalities appearing.
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