The Write Stuff - Michael Crichton

"Writers don't need love - all they require is money," said playwright John Osbourne. But these authors seem to have plenty of both.

Michael Crichton – £33 million

What do the award winning TV series ER and award winning movie Jurassic Park have in common? Both were penned by America's highest paid writer director, Michael Crichton.

Crichton's success as a writer and producer is staggering. His novels have sold more than 100 million copies. His movies have grossed more than $1 billion. He's the only person to have had, all at once, the number one book, the number one movie and the number one TV show. In 2004 Forbes placed him seventh in its rich list of entertainers.

This four times married "father of techno-thriller" has written 14 novels, four works of non fiction under his own name and another 10 books under pseudonyms. He has directed movies, created the much admired ER series, worked as an anthropology lecturer and a doctor, headed a software company and invented a computer game.

Crichton grew up in New York. He gave up studying English at Harvard, but returned to train as a doctor. During his medical school days he secretly wrote novels, one of which, A Case Of Need, won an award – he had to accept the award personally, which 'outed' him as the author. After giving up medicine, Crichton moved to Hollywood in the early 1970s.

The 6 foot 9 Crichton has always been self conscious about his height, but this did not stop him being named one of People's magazine's 50 most beautiful people in 1992; and in 2003 a newly discovered dinosaur was named for him: Crichtonsaurus bohlini.