We’ve just gotten confirmation that 66-year-old doctor turned author Michael Crichton died yesterday of cancer. The New York Times has a statement from his family on this page.
Crichton was the author of such seminal works as The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, and the creator of the television drama ER. We’ll update later with a more complete obituary.
Crichton’s own web site, www.michaelcrichton.net, is loading very slowly at the moment, but his Wikipedia page is fairly in-depth.
Edited later with this fuller obituary:
Author Michael Crichton died of cancer on 4 November 2008. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on 23 October 1942, he grew up on Long Island, New York. His varied career resulted in awards such as:
* an Oscar for technical achievement in 1995
* an Emmy Award for ER (1996), along with six other Emmy nominations
* a Writers Guild of America award for ER (1996)
* a Nebula nomination for dramatic presentation (Westworld, 1974)
* a Bram Stoker nomination for Jurassic Park (1994)
* a Saturn Award for Jurassic Park (1994) and a life career Saturn award in 1998
* a Razzie for Twister (1997)
Crichton graduated from Harvard in 1964 and received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1969. While in medical school, he wrote novels under several pen names, including A Case of Need as by Jeffery Hudson, which won the Edgar Award in 1969. He gave up medicine in the early 1970s.
His novels include: The Andromeda Strain (1969), The Terminal Man (1972), Westworld (1974), Eaters of the Dead (1976), Congo (1980), Sphere (1987), Jurassic Park (1990), The Lost World (1995), Timeline (1999), Prey (2002), State of Fear (2004), and Next (2006).
His film credits, as writer, producer, director, or combinations of those three titles (several of which he created from his own novels), include: The Andromeda Strain (1971), Westworld (1973), The Terminal Man (1974), Beyond Westworld (1980), Looker (1981), Runaway (1984), Jurassic Park (1993), Congo (1995), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Trespasser (1998), Sphere (1998), The 13th Warrior (1999), Jurassic Park III (2001), Timeline (2003), The Andromeda Strain (2008, tv), Westworld (2009), and Jurassic Park IV (2010).
Crichton is survived by his fifth wife, Sherri Alexander (his first four marriages ended in divorce) and his daughter, Taylor Anne (whose mother, Anne-Marie Martin, was Crichton’s fourth wife).