'Jurassic Park' Author Michael Crichton, 66

In addition to writing best-selling novels and screenplays, Michael Crichton directed such movies as "Coma" and "Westworld." (1977 Mgm Photo Via Associated Press)

He entered Harvard in 1960 with the intention of becoming a writer but was turned off by an English professor who was highly critical of the student's work. In disgust, he turned in an essay by George Orwell -- and got a B-minus. He graduated in 1964 with a degree in anthropology.

To finance his Harvard Medical School tuition, he wrote paperback adventure novels under various pseudonyms -- one was Jeffrey Hudson, a 17th-century dwarf in the court of King Charles II of England. It was estimated that Mr. Crichton wrote 10,000 words a day before finishing his degree in 1969, and he became a campus celebrity after "Andromeda Strain" was sold to Universal studios for $250,000.

He later credited his editor, Robert Gottlieb, with the wise advice to rewrite the book as straight as a magazine article to heighten its credibility.

Mr. Crichton spent a year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., as a postdoctoral fellow before giving up a medical career to focus on writing and the movies. At the early peak of his fame, he persuaded ABC to let him film his thriller "Binary," about stolen nerve gas that threatens a political convention. It aired in 1972 as the made-for-television movie "Pursuit."

He began his movie-directing career with his own script for "Westworld" (1973), which starred Yul Brynner as one of the many out-of-control robots at a fantasy theme park. In 1979, he directed "The First Great Train Robbery," starring Sean Connery and based on his book of the similar name about a 19th-century gentleman crook who orchestrates an elaborate theft of gold bullion.

He also wrote a novelistic homage to the poem "Beowulf" called "Eaters of the Dead" (1975) and, as a collector of modern art, wrote a biography of Jasper Johns (1977).

He appeared to have let work take precedence over family life, said his fourth wife, Anne-Marie Martin. Their divorce cost Mr. Crichton $31 million, including their art collection and 20 horses. They had co-written "Twister," a 1996 film about tornado chasers.

His marriages to Joan Radam, Kathleen St. Johns and Suzanne Childs also ended in divorce. Survivors include his fifth wife, Sherri Alexander, and a daughter, Taylor, from his marriage to Martin.

Mr. Crichton said he had become "a lot more hawkish" on the war in Iraq and other issues involving the use of force after armed robbers entered his home in Santa Monica, Calif., several years ago and tied up him and his daughter.

When asked by an interviewer in 1993 whether he thought the human race was doomed, Mr. Crichton replied: "I am optimistic by nature. My prejudice is that we are sufficiently resourceful to see the road ahead, and that we have the capacity to change our behavior. I envision a long lifespan for the species. We've got a few million years ahead of us."