Crichton Michael: biography, personal life, creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Michael Crichton is an American writer, author of many books in the science fiction and thriller genre, a well-known producer and screenwriter. His books are very popular all over the world, many of them have been filmed. Crichton is called the father of the technothriller for his great contribution to the development of this genre.

Childhood

Michael Crichton was born on October 23, 1942 in Chicago. His childhood was spent in New York, on the outskirts of the city, where he moved with his family at the age of six. Michael's father worked in a magazine, his mother was a housewife. In addition to Michael, there were three more children: two sisters and a younger brother.

The boy studied at a regular high school. Michael was tall, which gave him the opportunity to play in the basketball team. In sports, he proved to be quite successful.

Searching for a Life Path

After graduating from school, Michael Crichton chose the speci alty of a philologist and entered Harvard University. Surprisingly, the professors who studied the future writer considered his style insufficiently perfect and gave poor marks.

A rather funny incident happened once: Crichtonslipped one of the professors an essay by George Orwell instead of his composition. The professor did not appreciate this creation and gave him a three plus. After this incident, Michael finally became disillusioned with Harvard teaching methods.

After not successfully graduating from university, Michael Crichton decided to try himself in a different direction. In 1964 he entered Cambridge to study anthropology. Here he proved himself to the fullest and received a trip to Europe and North Africa for a period of one year as a reward for excellent studies.

After returning home, Michael did not stop searching for his calling and entered medical school at Harvard. Crichton's success in medicine turned out to be great: he defended his thesis and worked for some time at the Institute of Biological Research.

But he did not continue further work in this area, because, finally, he chose his life's work - Crichton becomes a professional writer. He began writing while still in medical school. The author used all the knowledge gained during his studies to write his bestsellers. Michael Crichton's books and films often feature themes of both medicine and anthropology. For example, the television series ER, which was written by Crichton, won 14 Emmy awards.

Literature

Michael Crichton was familiar with literature from an early age. At the age of fourteen, he published his travel notes in The New York Times. At an older age, the young writer became interested in the genrethriller and wrote his first books under various pseudonyms. Due to his high growth, more than two meters, he took appropriate pseudonyms, for example, John Lange (in translation - "long").

Under this name, the writer worked from 1966 to 1972 and created several books. One of them was the novel "If Necessary", which was duly appreciated and received the Edgar award as the best detective of the year.

In 1968, Crichton's first science fiction novel, Choice Remedy, was written. In 1969, the first book under the author's own name was published, which quickly became a bestseller and was filmed - "The Andromeda Strain".

Over the next decades, Crichton tries himself as a screenwriter and director, which he succeeds quite well. The fantasy film "Westworld" was well received by the audience.

Jurassic Park

In 1993, Michael became world-famous, there are many fans who, being interested in the writer's work, buy his earlier creations. The reason for the interest was the release of the blockbuster based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park. The book was written by the author back in 1990.

In the science fiction novel, the protagonist is a certain John Hammond, who studies the DNA of dinosaurs. The scientist bought a small island, where he created an unusual park. In this place it contains dinosaurs, for which conditions are created,identical to the conditions of the Jurassic period. John is preparing for the opening of the park and hopes that his work will be highly appreciated. For this, the scientist invited experts before the opening of the reserve.

But the unexpected happens, and the situation gets out of control: chaos begins, people are left defenseless against dinosaurs.

In 1993, the writer rightfully receives the title of the most popular writer in America. Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park" becomes a bestseller and maintains this position throughout the year. The circulation of the work is about seven million copies, and the film of the same name marked the beginning of a real dinosaur mania.

The Lost World

After the worldwide success that fell on Crichton thanks to the popularity of "Jurassic Park", the author decides to return to the heroes of the novel. In 1993, Michael Crichton's book "The Lost World" was published, which is a continuation of the beloved story. And in 1997, Steven Spielberg directed the blockbuster Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, which won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Several genres are intertwined here: action, adventure, thriller and science fiction.

The action takes place four years after the events described earlier. Dinosaurs from the first part of the novel not only did not die out, but also managed to multiply, moving to a neighboring island and adapting to weather conditions. And then a man appears who makes plans totransport dinosaurs to the mainland to earn money.

John Hammond had by this time lost control of his company. Upon learning of the ongoing events, he goes to the island to rectify the situation. Both groups, finding themselves in the face of danger, are forced to join forces in the fight against a formidable enemy.

Dead Eaters

Another of the best novels of the writer, on the basis of which the film "The 13th Warrior" with Antonio Banderos in the title role, is "Eaters of the Dead". To date, there are few people who would not watch this adaptation.

One day, Crichton had an argument with one of his friends about European mythology. The subject of the dispute was the legend of Beowulf. Friends disagreed about the reality of his foundation.

Michael got acquainted with the manuscripts of Ibn Fadlan, who is considered an eyewitness to the events. This man really lived in Baghdad in the tenth century. In 922, he went to the Volga Bulgaria as the secretary of the embassy, and on the way he kept travel notes, which served as a source for Crichton to write the novel. The manuscript is quite authentic and is often used by professors for teaching material.

Crichton compared the myth with real historical events. The manuscript was amended with additions taken from bibliographic sources. To revive the plot, the author used artistic techniques. So in 1976, Michael Crichton's book "Eaters of the Dead" appeared, created in the genrehistorical, adventure and mystical novel. The author was so imbued with the creation of the work that in the end he could no longer distinguish between the manuscript and his personal improvements.

Scientists reacted quite favorably to this creation, but literary critics smashed it to smithereens, accusing the author of desecrating the personality of Beowulf. But the main thing is that readers appreciated the work of the master.

Writer's personal life

Michael has been married three times: to Joan Radam, Cathy St. Jones and Canadian actress Anne-Marie Martin, who gave birth to his daughter Taylor in 1988.

After her marriage to Crichton in 1989, Anne-Marie retired from film to devote herself to her family. Only a few years later she returned to the film industry, but already as a screenwriter.

Hobbies

In addition to writing books and producing films, Crichton worked in software and founded his own computer game company, Timeline Studios, in the late 1990s. All games were based on his novels.

The writer also collected contemporary art.

In 1988, Michael Crichton wrote the novel-biography "Journeys", in which he described in detail his many trips around the world.

He was also fond of writing articles on the subject of science, which were published in many journals.

And interest in mysticism was manifested not only in the works of Michael. Crichton took part in séances, tried to experiment in practicewith the theory of exorcism and even took part in the rites of exorcism.

Memory of the writer

Michael Crichton died on November 4, 2008 in Los Angeles from cancer, but the books of the talented writer are still a success today.

Michael's activities brought the writer in 1998 the status of the fourth businessman in the list of entertainment figures in terms of the size of the earned fortune. To date, the world circulation of his works is more than one hundred million copies.

Michael Crichton names some new dinosaur species discovered by paleontologists.