Biography for
Michael Crichton More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

23 October 1942, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Date of Death

4 November 2008, Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer)

Birth Name

John Michael Crichton

Height

6' 9" (2.06 m)

Mini Biography

Michael Crichton was born in Chicago, Illinois, but grew up in Roslyn, New York. His father was a journalist and encouraged him to write and to type. Michael gave up studying English at Harvard University, having become disillusioned with the teaching standards--the final straw came when he submitted an essay by George Orwell that was given a "B." After giving up English and spending a year in Europe, Michael returned to Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Havard Medical School to train as a doctor. Several times, he was persuaded not to quit the course but did so after qualifying.

During his medical-student days, he wrote novels secretly. One of them, "A Case of Need," written under the pseudonym Jeffery Hudson, contained references to people at Harvard Medical School, but he couldn't hide his identity when the novel won an award that had to be collected in person. After giving up medicine, Michael moved to Hollywood, California, in the early 1970s and began directing movies based on his books, his first big break being Westworld (1973).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Rob Hartill

Spouse

Sherri Alexander	(May 2005 - 4 November 2008) (his death) 1 child
Anne-Marie Martin	(1987 - September 2002) (divorced) 1 child
Suzanne Childs	(22 October 1981 - ?) (divorced)
Kathy St. Johns	(31 December 1978 - 1980) (divorced)
Joan Radam	(1965 - 1970) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Cautionary tales about the dangers of technology

Trivia

Michael was exorcised in 1986.

Visiting writer, MIT. [1988]

Mystery Writer's of America Edgar award for "A Case of Need." [1968]

Mystery Writer's of America Edgar award for The First Great Train Robbery (1979). [1980]

Association of American Medical Writers award for "Five Patients." [1970]

Education: Harvard Medical School. Original Job: Anthropology professor. Child: Taylor.

Raised in Roslyn, New York.

Played basketball at Roslyn High School

Was tied up and robbed at gunpoint by masked men in his home in Santa Monica, California, on 23 September 2002. No one was harmed.

Biography in John Wakeman, editor, "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985," pp. 248-250. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Has written two stories about futuristic theme parks that go haywire: Westworld (1973) and Jurassic Park (1993). Both films feature actors who worked with John Sturges. Yul Brynner appeared in The Magnificent Seven (1960), and referenced his earlier role as the robotic gunslinger. Richard Attenborough appeared in The Great Escape (1963).

"ER" (1994) began its life in the early 1970s as E.W.: Emergency Ward, which was what they were called at the time, and was a full-length film script. He was unable to get it produced. Steven Spielberg contacted him about it in 1989, expressing interest in turning it into a movie. It was dropped when Spielberg heard about Jurassic Park (1993). During the film's production, someone else at Amblin Entertainment read it and suggested that it was better suited for a television series.

He has related the story of his first visit to a movie studio, Universal, which was about to produce The Andromeda Strain (1971). A young novice director named Steven Spielberg was assigned the task of giving him a tour of the studio. It was almost 20 years later that he was contacted by Spielberg for a potential project that was dropped in favor of another of his stories, Jurassic Park (1993).

When writing a script or book, he always eats the same thing for lunch to aid his concentration. When writing Jurassic Park (1993), for example, he ate egg salad sandwiches with lots of pepper.

Director Nicolas Roeg originally wanted him to play the alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). The role eventually went to androgynous rock star David Bowie instead.

After failing to get producers interested in "ER" (1994) in 1970, the script sat in a metal safe for twenty years until Steven Spielberg heard about it.

Frequently hired Jerry Goldsmith to compose the scores for his films.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, volume 127, pages 65-72. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group, 1994.

His only child and daughter, Taylor Anne, was born in 1989.

Personal Quotes

[First line of his autobiography]: "It's not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw."

I went to a museum and they had this sideshow. There was a little boy who couldn't have been more than six. His feet didn't even touch the ground. Each time they showed a dinosaur he would shout, 'Tyrannosauras!' 'Stegosauras!'. He did that for an hour and I thought what is it about dinosaurs that's so fascinating? That's when I decided to write Jurassic Park.

Salary

Twister (1996)

$2,500,000

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