'Jurassic Park' Author, ER Co-Creator Dies Of Cancer

November 5, 2008 7:04 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - Michael Crichton, author of the dinosaur novel "Jurassic Park" and co-creator of the medical TV drama "ER," passed away Tuesday in Los Angeles after succumbing to cancer. He was 66.

The real-life doctor became a best-selling author with the publication of his outer space virus novel "The Andromeda Strain" when he was still a student at Harvard Medical School in 1969. In 1979, he debuted as a film director for the movie version of his hit fiction "The Great Train Robbery."

Crichton also worked with long-time friend and director Steven Spielberg in filming "Jurassic Park" in 1993. It was that year that he and the director of ER created the NBC hit series set in a Chicago emergency room. ER hit the boob tubes in 1994 and made a star out of actor George Clooney.

The Emmy awardee became controversial when he disputed the global warming theory in his 2004 novel "State of Fear," which elicited attacks from scientists.