Michael Crichton dies

LOS ANGELES - Michael Crichton, the mind behind dinosaurs and robotic cowboys running amok in "Jurassic Park" and "Westworld," died on Tuesday. He was 66.

Crichton is best known as the author of "Jurassic Park" and as the creator of NBC's hit medical drama "ER," for which he won an Emmy. Many of his works are thrillers that include a technological or medical basis for the futuristic action.

Crichton was born in Chicago on Oct. 23, 1942. He graduated from Harvard College and then received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, after which he became a post-doctoral fellow at Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies and a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The Andromeda Strain," about a deadly alien virus, was published while he was still in medical school and was the first of his many novels to be adapted for film.

His other book-to-silver screen adaptations include "Westworld," about robot malfunctions at an adult western-theme park; "Coma," about black-market organ sales; "The Great Train Robbery," starring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland; the malfunctioning robot film "Runaway"; the Japan-set "Rising Sun"; "Disclosure," about sexual harassment; "Congo"; "Twister"; "The 13th Warrior" and "Timeline."

On television, Crichton helped create the Emmy-winning "ER."

Crichton's works have been translated into 36 languages.

The 6-foot-9 Crichton was married to Sherri Alexander, his fifth wife after four failed marriages, and had a daughter, Taylor Anne, the child from his fourth marriage to Anne-Marie Martin. *