Michael Crichton Born

Michael Crichton Born October 23, 1942

Had to give a tribute to one of my favorite authors, Michael Crichton, who was born today in 1942. Jurassic Park, Lost World, Andromeda Strain, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Congo, Sphere, Timeline, Airframe, the list goes on.

Crichton’s books have sold over 200 million copies. He was the only creative artist ever to have works simultaneously charting at No. 1 in television, film, and book sales with ER, Jurassic Park and Disclosure, respectively.

Crichton was first published at the ripe old age of 14, it was a column related to travel published in the New York Times. He began his studies in 1960 at Harvard but having issues with the English department he switched his studies to biological anthropology and eventually Harvard Medical School where he graduated with an M.D.

Michael Ovitz, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Crichton (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage) He was a tall guy!

He worked clinical rotations at Boston City Hospital but grew disenchanted with the medical culture there and never obtained his license to practice medicine, devoting himself instead to his writing career.

Crichton grew up as an awkward adolescent and felt isolated because of his height. He Was 6’9”. During the 70’s and 80’s he consulted with psychics and gurus, eventually feeling more as ease with himself. He practiced meditation and was a deist.

As a workaholic he would take 6 or 7 weeks to draft a novel withdrawing himself completely to a ritualistic self-denial until he completed the work. As he got near to finishing he would rise earlier each day sometimes sleeping less than 4 hours… going to bed at 10 to wake at 2am and keep working.

Crichton was a very private guy so us fans didn’t know he had lymphoma until he died. He was undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the time of his death. Physicians and family members expected him to make a recovery. He died November 4, 2008.

As a pop novelist, he was divine. A Crichton book was a headlong experience driven by a man who was both a natural storyteller and fiendishly clever when it came to verisimilitude; he made you believe that cloning dinosaurs wasn’t just over the horizon but possible tomorrow. Maybe today.

—Stephen King on Crichton, January 22, 2009

Novels adapted into films

Year – Title – Filmmaker/Director

• 1971 – The Andromeda Strain, Robert Wise
• 1972 – Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, Paul Williams
• 1972 – The Carey Treatment (A Case of Need), Blake Edwards
• 1974 – The Terminal Man, Mike Hodges
• 1979 – The First Great Train Robbery, Michael Crichton
• 1993 – Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg
• 1993 – Rising Sun, Philip Kaufman
• 1994 – Disclosure, Barry Levinson
• 1995 – Congo, Frank Marshall
• 1997 – The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg
• 1998 – Sphere, Barry Levinson
• 1999 – The 13th Warrior (Eaters of the Dead), John McTiernan
• 2003 – Timeline, Richard Donner
• 2008 – The Andromeda Strain (TV miniseries), Mikael Salomon

As a screenwriter or director

Year – Title – Notes

• 1972 – Pursuit (TV film)-Co-writer/Director
• 1973 – Extreme Close-Up also titled Sex Through A Window-Writer
• 1973 – Westworld-Writer/Director
• 1978 – Coma-Writer/Director
• 1979 – The First Great Train Robbery-Writer/Director
• 1981 – Looker-Writer/Director
• 1984 – Runaway-Writer/Director
• 1989 – Physical Evidence-Director
• 1993 – Jurassic Park-Co-writer
• 1993 – Rising Sun-Co-writer
• 1996 – Twister-Co-writer/Producer
• 2001 – Jurassic Park III-Based on characters created by

Television series

Year-Title-Notes

• 1980 – Beyond Westworld – Creator/Writer
• 1994 – 2009 – ER –  Creator/Writer/Executive producer

Novels

• Odds On                               (1966)
• Scratch One                          (1967)
• Easy Go                                (1968)
• A Case of Need                      (1968)
• Zero Cool                              (1969)
• The Andromeda Strain           (1969)
• The Venom Business              (1969)
• Drug of Choice                      (1970)
• Dealing                                 (1970)
• Grave Descend                      (1970)
• Binary                                  (1972)
• The Terminal Man                  (1972)
• The Great Train Robbery        (1975)
• Eaters of the Dead                 (1976)
• Congo                                   (1980)
• Sphere                                 (1987)
• Jurassic Park                         (1990)
• Rising Sun                            (1992)
• Disclosure                             (1994)
• The Lost World                      (1995)
• Airframe                               (1996)
• Timeline                                (1999)
• Prey                                     (2002)
• State of Fear                         (2004)
• Next                                     (2006)
• Pirate Latitudes                     (2009)
• Micro                                    (2011)

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