Died at 83
male
John Michael Crichton (/ˈkraɪtən/; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature technology and are usually within the science fiction, techno-thriller, and medical fiction genres. Crichton's novels often explore human technological advancement and attempted dominance over nature, both with frequently catastrophic results; many of his works are cautionary tales, especially regarding themes of biotechnology. Several of his stories centre on themes of genetic modification, hybridisation, palaeontology and/or zoology. Many features have medical or scientific underpinnings, reflective of his medical training. Crichton received an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1969 but did not practice medicine, instead choosing to focus on his writing. Initially writing under a pseudonym, he eventually published 25 novels in his lifetime, including: The Andromeda Strain (1969), The Terminal Man (1972), The Great Train Robbery (1975), Congo (1980), Sphere (1987), Jurassic Park (1990), Rising Sun (1992), Disclosure (1994), The Lost World (1995), Airframe (1996), Timeline (1999), Prey (2002), State of Fear (2004), and Next (2006). Four more novels, in various stages of completion, were published after he died in 2008. Crichton was also involved in the film and television industry. In 1973, he wrote and directed Westworld, the first film to use 2D computer-generated imagery. He also directed Coma (1978), The First Great Train Robbery (1978), Looker (1981), and Runaway (1984). He was the creator of the television series ER (1994–2009), and several of his novels were adapted into films, most notably the Jurassic Park franchise. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Crichton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Dinosaur is a 2000 American live-action/computer-animated adventure drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation in collaboration with The Secret Lab and Industrial Light & Magic. It was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, written by Michael Crichton, Thom Enriquez, John Harrison and Robert Nelson Jacobs, and co-produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Pam Marsden. The film was released by Walt Disney Pictures from a co-production of Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company on May 19, 2000 and is the 39th film and the first computer-animated film in the Disney Animated Canon. At officially $127.5 million, it was the most expensive theatrical movie release of the year. While the main characters in Dinosaur are computer-animated, most of the film's backgrounds were filmed on location. Several backgrounds were found in Canaima National Park in Venezuela; various tepuis and Angel Falls also appear in the film. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who generally praised the animation, direction, screenplay, musical score, voice acting and a homage to Universal's Spielberg-helmed Jurassic Park franchise. However, it became a box-office success, grossing $349.8 million over a $127.5 million budget.
