Crichton, Michael

▪ American author

in full  John Michael Crichton 

born Oct. 23, 1942, Chicago, Ill., U.S.

died Nov. 4, 2008, Los Angeles, Calif.

      American writer known for his thoroughly researched popular thrillers that often deal with the potential ramifications of advancing technology. Many of his novels were made into successful movies, most notably Jurassic Park (1990; filmed 1993).

      Crichton, whose father was an executive and journalist for Advertising Age, showed an early aptitude for writing. His first published piece, a travel article, appeared in The New York Times (New York Times, The) when he was only 14. Accepted to Harvard University, Crichton initially studied English before switching to anthropology. He took the classes required for admission to medical school, graduated summa cum laude in 1964, and traveled to the University of Cambridge as a visiting lecturer in anthropology. In 1965 Crichton returned to the United States to attend Harvard Medical School, where he earned a medical degree in 1969.

      While still a medical student, Crichton began his career as a professional writer under the pseudonyms John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson. The books written during this time, while mainly efforts to help mitigate the cost of tuition, sold well. His mystery novel A Case of Need won the 1968 Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Crichton's first best seller, The Andromeda Strain (1969; filmed 1971), published under his own name, deals with the aftermath of a biological weaponry research program gone wrong. From 1969 to 1970 Crichton served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Science. However, the success of his novels led him to pursue writing full-time.

      Crichton went on to publish The Terminal Man (1972; filmed 1974), which concerns electrode brain therapy gone wrong. He diverged from science fiction with The Great Train Robbery (1972; filmed 1979), a heist thriller set in Victorian England, and Eaters of the Dead (1976; filmed 1999), a historical narrative incorporating elements of the Beowulf myth. Congo (1980; filmed 1995) weaves factual accounts of primate communication with humans into a fictional adventure tale about an aggressive species of gorilla.

      In 1990 Crichton published the massively successful science-fiction thriller Jurassic Park, which grimly envisions the human resurrection of the dinosaurs through genetic engineering. He wrote the screenplay for the 1993 film adaptation, which was a box-office hit, and for such other works as The Lost World (1995; filmed 1997), a sequel to Jurassic Park. In addition, he conceptualized and produced the highly successful TV series ER (1994– ), a weekly hour-long drama about crises and relationships in a hospital emergency room. Crichton directed several films, including Coma (1978), for which he also wrote the screenplay, and Physical Evidence (1989).

      Though he was often criticized by the scientific community for being sensationalist, Crichton was known for the careful research that went into his work. He meticulously studied the science underlying the premise of Jurassic Park and went to Japanese American conferences before writing the political thriller Rising Sun (1992; filmed 1993), an account, divisive at times, of Japanese American relations. Crichton continued to postulate on the effects of scientific advancements in works of science fiction such as Prey (2002), about nanotechnology; Next (2005), in which he returned to the blurry ethical boundaries of genetic engineering; and the 2005 thriller State of Fear, his polemical take on global warming.

      An avid traveler, Crichton described many of his adventures in the autobiographical Travels (1988). Also in the 1980s he operated a computer software company, FilmTrack, for a short period and produced the computer game Amazon.

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