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``Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration
to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields,
and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all
understand,'' his family said in a statement.
``While the world knew him as a great storyteller that
challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us _
and entertained us all while doing so _ his wife Sherri,
daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a
devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired
each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new
eyes.''
He was an experimenter and popularizer known for his stories of
disaster and systematic breakdown, such as the rampant microbe
of ``The Andromeda Strain'' or the dinosaurs running madly in
``Jurassic Park.'' Many of his books became major Hollywood
movies, including ``Jurassic Park,'' ``Rising Sun'' and
``Disclosure.'' Crichton himself directed and wrote ``The Great
Train Robbery'' and he co-wrote the script for the blockbuster
``Twister.''
In 1994, he created the award-winning TV hospital series ``ER.''
He's even had a dinosaur named for him, Crichton's ankylosaur.
``Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of
`Jurassic Park,''' said ``Jurassic Park'' director Steven
Spielberg, a friend of Crichton's for 40 years. ``He was the
greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which
is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth.
... Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side
for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take
his place.''
John Wells, executive producer of ``ER'' called the author ``an
extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious,
exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful.
``No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours and no
subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest.
Sexual politics, medical and scientific ethics, anthropology,
archaeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics,
and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation.''
Neal Baer, a physician who became an executive producer on
``ER,'' was a fourth-year medical student at Harvard University
when Wells, a longtime friend, sent him Crichton's script.
``I said, `Wow, this is like my life.' Michael had been a
medical student at Harvard in the early '70s and I was going
through the same thing about 20 years later,'' said Baer.
``ER'' offered a fresh take on the TV medical drama, making
doctors the central focus rather than patients. In the early
life of ``ER,'' Crichton, who hadn't been involved in medicine
for years, and Spielberg would take part in writers' room
discussions.
In recent years, Crichton was the rare novelist granted a White
House meeting with President George W. Bush, perhaps because of
his skepticism about global warming, which Crichton addressed in
the 2004 novel, ``State of Fear.'' Crichton's views were
strongly condemned by environmentalists, who alleged that the
author was hurting efforts to pass legislation to reduce
emissions of carbon dioxide.
If not a literary giant, he was a physical one, standing 6 feet
and 9 inches (1.8 meters), and ready for battle with the press.
In a 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Crichton came
with a tape recorder, text books and a pile of graphs and charts
as he defended ``State of Fear'' and his take on global warming.
``I have a lot of trouble with things that don't seem true to
me,'' Crichton said at the time, his large, manicured hands
gesturing to his graphs. ``I'm very uncomfortable just
accepting. There's something in me that wants to pound the table
and say, 'That's not true.'''
He spoke to few scientists about his questions, convinced that
he could interpret the data himself. ``If we put everything in
the hands of experts and if we say that as intelligent
outsiders, we are not qualified to look over the shoulder of
anybody, then we're in some kind of really weird world,'' he
said.
A
new novel by Crichton had been tentatively scheduled to come
next month, but publisher HarperCollins said the book was
postponed indefinitely because of his illness.
One of four siblings, Crichton was born in Chicago and grew up
in Roslyn, Long Island. His father was a journalist and young
Michael spent much of his childhood writing extra papers for
teachers. In third grade, he wrote a nine-page play that his
father typed for him using carbon paper so the other kids would
know their parts. He was tall, gangly and awkward, and used
writing as a way to escape; Mark Twain and Alfred Hitchcock were
his role models.
Figuring he would not be able to make a living as writer, and
not good enough at basketball, he decided to become a doctor. He
studied anthropology at Harvard College, and later graduated
from Harvard Medical School. During medical school, he turned
out books under pseudonyms. (One that the tall author used was
Jeffrey Hudson, a 17th-century dwarf in the court of King
Charles II of England.) He had modest success with his writing
and decided to pursue it.
His first hit, ``The Andromeda Strain,'' was written while he
was still in medical school and quickly caught on upon its 1969
release. It was a featured selection of the Book-of-the-Month
Club and was sold to Universal in Hollywood for $250,000.
``A few of the teachers feel I'm wasting my time, and that in
some ways I have wasted theirs,'' he told The New York Times in
1969. ``When I asked for a couple of days off to go to
California about a movie sale, that raised an eyebrow.''
His books seemed designed to provoke debate, whether the
theories of quantum physics in ``Timeline,'' the reverse sexual
discrimination of ``Disclosure'' or the spectre of Japanese
eminence in ``Rising Sun.''
``The initial response from the (Japanese) establishment was,
'You're a racist,''' he told the AP. ``So then, because I'm
always trying to deal with data, I went on a tour talking about
it and gave a very careful argument, and their response came
back, 'Well you say that but we know you're a racist.'''
Crichton had a rigid work schedule: rising before dawn and
writing from about 6 a.m. to around 3 p.m., breaking only for
lunch. He enjoyed being one of the few novelists recognized in
public, but he also felt limited by fame.
``Of course, the celebrity is nice. But when I go do research,
it's much more difficult now. The kind of freedom I had 10 years
ago is gone,'' he told the AP. ``You have to have good table
manners; you can't have spaghetti hanging out of your mouth at a
restaurant.''
Crichton was married five times and had one child. A private
funeral is planned.
Associated Press writer Colleen Long in New York contributed to
this story. |
