John Michael Crichton was born on 23 October 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an author, director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for his various best-selling novels. He has written books that have sold over 200 million copies internationally and a lot of them have been made into films. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it was prior to his passing.
How rich is Michael Crichton? As of mid-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $175 million, mostly earned through a successful career as a writer. He was responsible for the creation of many hits including “Disclosure”, “Jurassic Park”, and “ER”. He was called one of the pioneers of the techno-thriller genre and all of these ensured the position of his wealth.
Michael Crichton Net Worth $175 million
Michael had developed an interest in writing at a very young age and it may have been due to the journalistic influence of his father. At the age of 14, he had already published an article in The New York Times and later attended Harvard College in 1960. He studied literature, but then decided to switch to biological anthropology because of politics with one of his professors. He was then given a Henry Russel Shaw Travelling Fellowship and also taught in the University of Cambridge in the UK. He then attended Harvard Medical School where he started writing once again, making novels under pen names such as John Lange. In 1969, he won his first Edgar Award for Best Novel for his work “A Case of Need”. He graduated from Harvard in the same year but never pursued a medical license, instead opting to fully dedicate himself to writing.
Crichton’s first novel was called “Odds On” which he wrote under the pen name John Lange. A year later he wrote “Scratch One” which was about a lawyer who is mistaken for an assassin. In 1968, he wrote two novels “A Case of Need” and “Easy Go” which was about an Egyptologist who discovers a hidden message leading to an un-named Pharaoh whose tomb is yet to be discovered. The following year, he would make more books including “Zero Cool”, “The Venom Business”, and “The Andromeda Strain” which solidified his status as a best-selling author. The book was a bout a group of scientists discovering an extra-terrestrial microorganism that causes death via blood clotting. In 1970, he wrote “Grave Descent”, Drug of Choice”, and “Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues” which he made with his younger brother. Two years later he wrote “Binary” and “The Terminal Man” which was eventually made into a film in 1974 but didn’t receive much attention.
Crichton would continue to show his versatility with the historical novel “The Great Train Robbery”, and the scientific “Eaters of the Dead”. In 1980, he wrote “Congo” which would become a film starring Laura Linney. Seven years later, he created “Sphere” which was then made into a film starring Dustin Hoffman. He also wrote “Jurassic Park” which would eventually become a hit movie franchise. He continued working with Steven Spielberg and they would create the series “ER” and would then make another novel made into a film in “Rising Sun”. He continued making more novels with “Disclosure” and “The Lost World” which was a sequel to Jurassic Park.
In 1999, he wrote “Timeline” which would then lead to the video game of the same name. He then created “Prey” and “State of Fear” which would reach the number 1 spot on Amazon.com. The last published book he had was “Next” and after his death, it was discovered he had two manuscripts “Pirate Latitudes” and “Micro” that were partially completed.
For his personal life, it is known that Crichton was a workaholic and would spend a lot of time writing his novels. Aside from that, he practiced a meditation and was a deist. He married five times during his life which was to Joan Radam, Kathleen St. Johns, Suzanna Childs, and actress Anne-Marie Martin. His last marriage was to Sherri Alexander who was pregnant with their son when he died.
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, Edgar Award for Best Novel, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Technical Achievement, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Original, PGA Televisio...
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Nebula Award for Best Script, Prometheus Award for Best Novel
Movies
Westworld, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, The 13th Warrior, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Congo, Sphere, Timeline, Disclosure, The First Great Train Robbery, Rising Sun, Twister, Looker, Runaway, Jurassic Park III, The Terminal Man, The Carey Treatment, The Andromeda Strain, Physical Evidence, Coma...
TV Shows
ER, Beyond Westworld
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Trademark
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Known for doing exhaustive research
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Often expresses complex scientific terminology and theories in more layman's terms
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Towering height and slender frame
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Tells the story through multiple characters' viewpoints
Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.
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The American media produce a product of very poor quality. Its information is not reliable, it has too much chrome and glitz, its doors rattle, it breaks down almost immediately, and it's sold without warranty. It's flashy, but it's basically junk.
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The belief that there are other life forms in the universe is a matter of faith. There is not a single shred of evidence for any other life forms, and in forty years of searching, none has been discovered. There is absolutely no evidentiary reason to maintain this belief.
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I want a news service that tells me what no one knows but is true nonetheless.
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Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.
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We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion.
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The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs.'
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Human beings never think for themselves; they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view.
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They are focused on whether they can do something. They never think whether they should do something.
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Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.
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I tended to faint when I saw accident victims in the emergency ward, during surgery, or while drawing blood.
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Readers probably haven't heard much about it yet, but they will. Quantum technology turns ordinary reality upside down.
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I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.
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We all live every day in virtual environments, defined by our ideas.
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In the information society, nobody thinks. We expect to banish paper, but we actually banish thought.
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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, "Tyrannosaurus!" "Stegosaurus!". 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".
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[First line of his autobiography] It's not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw."
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Fact
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Of all the film adaptations made from his novels, he said that the best was Jurassic Park (1993) and the worst was The Terminal Man (1974).
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After the success of Jurassic Park (1993), Rising Sun (1993), Disclosure (1994) and Congo (1995) (all adaptations of Crichton's novels), he was paid a substantial amount for the movie rights of his future bestseller Airframe before it was even published. Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow and Demi Moore were reportedly linked to the project. However, the movie adaptation was permanently shelved when Crichton could not agree on a screenplay that he liked, after which he returned the money.
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He wrote a screenplay about a genetically engineered dinosaur in 1983 but it was never produced.
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Son, John Michael Todd Crichton, was born February 12, 2009, three months after his death.
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Became a vocal skeptic of environmentalism and global warming later in his career.
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Original Job: Anthropology professor.
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His first child and daughter, Taylor Anne, was born in 1989.
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Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, volume 127, pages 65-72. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group, 1994.
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Frequently hired Jerry Goldsmith to compose the scores for his films.
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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.
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.
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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).
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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.
$175 Million
I think it’s safe to say he was worth quite a bit more than $175 million.