Michael Crichton's Passing

There was so much excitement about the election that the death of Michael Crichton was overlooked by most so I wanted to post this. My son and I watched Jurassic Park 3 over the weekend and it reminded me to do this. He was a wonderful author and gave Hollywood a reason to start looking toward books to make films. Blessings, Zane


Michael Crichton - best known for penning "Jurassic Park" and creating the TV hit "ER" - died suddenly from cancer, his family said yesterday.
He was 66, and died in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Crichton was diagnosed with lymphoma this spring and loved ones were confident he'd beat it, said brother Douglas Crichton.
"This is a shock to a lot of people, even his physicians," Douglas told The Post.
Douglas said he wasn't even worried two weeks ago, when his brother could barely talk because of the toll taken by chemotherapy.
The death "was not anticipated," said Doug Crichton, 59. "Everyone thought he was fine."
In a statement posted on the author's Web site, his family said: "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."
Michael Crichton's page-turning and often terrifying books, including "Jurassic Park," "Disclosure," "Rising Sun" and "The Terminal Man," have sold more than 150 million copies.
"Michael was an extraordinary man - brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful," "ER" producer John Wells said.
"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, archeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation."
Douglas Crichton recalled watching the sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet" with his 6-foot-9 big brother, who used that inspiration to build a robot at their childhood home in Roslyn, LI.
"Mike was remarkable from the day he hit the ground," Doug Crichton said.
The prolific author will probably be best remembered for "Jurassic Park."
The tale chronicled the fantastic regeneration of dinosaurs using DNA wizardry.
His stories of scientific disaster and systematic breakdown also included the rampant microbe of 1969's "The Andromeda Strain" and "State of Fear" in 2004, which stirred controversy by calling global warming a hoax. Crichton himself directed and wrote the movie "The Great Train Robbery" and 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 director Steven Spielberg, who turned Crichton's awesome tale into one of Hollywood's most profitable franchises, with two sequels.