Michael Crichton passes away.....

Posted by Unknown on Nov 6, 2008

  • Michael Crichton, the doctor-turned-author of bestselling thrillers such as "The Terminal Man" and "Jurassic Park" and a Hollywood writer and director whose credits include "Westworld" and "Coma," has died. He was 66.

    For nearly four decades, the 6-foot-9 writer was a towering presence in the worlds of publishing and filmmaking.

    Lynn Nesbit, Crichton's agent since the late '60s, told the Los Angeles Times,"There was no one like Crichton, because he could both entertain and educate. His brilliance was indisputable, and he had a grasp of so many subjects -- from art to science to technology. I respected him so much intellectually and as a writer. I loved him. It's like losing a very good friend as well as a client of so many years."

    Director Steven Spielberg in a statement Wednesday said, "Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of 'Jurassic Park.' He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth."

    Spielberg, who was a new contract TV director at Universal in the early '70s when he met Crichton and was assigned to show the writer around the lot, described him as "a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels.


    Crichton's body of work....

    1966 "Odds On," novel. Written under the pen name John Lange, about a robbery planned by computer that goes terribly wrong.
    1969 "The Andromeda Strain," novel. (Movie, 1971; TV miniseries, 2008.) An alien micro-organism threatens to wipe out mankind.
    1970 "The Terminal Man," novel. (Movie, 1971.) Crichton tackles mind control.
    1970 "Five Patients,"non-fiction. Crichton's first of four non-fiction works, about his experience at a Boston hospital.
    1972 "Binary," novel, as John Lange. Crichton makes his directorial debut with a TV movie of the same story, renamed "Pursuit," the same year.
    1973 "Westworld," feature film. Crichton writes and directs, with Yul Brynner as a robot that turns homicidal in a role playing vacation spot.
    1975 "The Great Train Robbery," novel. He writes and directs movie adaptation, 1979, starring Donald Sutherland.
    1981 "Looker," movie. Writes and directs this techno-thriller, starring Albert Finney.
    1984 "Runaway," movie. Writes and directs story about murderous robots and heat-seeking bullets, starring Tom Selleck.
    1987 "Sphere," novel. (Movie, 1998.) Spaceships, black holes and time travel.
    1990 "Jurassic Park," novel. (Movie, co-writes screenplay, 1993.) Cloned dinosaurs squash man's hubris.
    1994 "ER," television show. Based on a script Crichton had written 20 years earlier. He serves as creator, writer and executive producer.
    1995 "The Lost World," novel. (Movie, 1997). More dinosaurs.
    1996 "Twister," movie. Crichton co-writes screenplay.
    2002 "Prey," novel. Beware of artificial intelligence.
    2004 "State of Fear," novel. Global warming isn't real, according to Crichton. Scientists attack.
    2006 "Next," novel. Beware of genetics.

    source- The Los Angeles Times

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