Saturday, October 23, 2010

Tributes to Michael Crichton - Charlie Rose



Today would have been Michael Crichton’s 68th birthday. To honor him, I am going to share some of the best tributes to Michael Crichton, complied from various sources. I will be running the tributes every day starting today, October 23, and ending on November 4, 2010, the second anniversary of Crichton’s death.

After Michael Crichton died on November 4, 2008, I felt that because of the timing of his passing, Crichton’s death did not receive the attention it deserved, being greatly overshadowed by the presidential election. That’s why I was very pleased that Charlie Rose did a brief tribute to Michael Crichton on his show on November 5, 2008, followed by a longer appreciation on Wednesday, November 12, 2008.

So we begin with Charlie Rose’s tribute (taken from the show transcript):

Michael Crichton died of cancer last week. He was only 66. And we
did not have time to pay proper appreciation at the time that he died. And
so we do now. Michael was the author of more than a dozen blockbusters,
including the Jurassic Park trilogy, "Twister" and "Congo" and others. His
books sold more than 150 million copies. Many were adapted into film.

He also created the hit television series, "ER," and at one time had
the number one book, the number one movie and the number one television
series. Stephen Spielberg, the great director, said Crichton was the
greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what
gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth…

… A personal note about Michael Crichton, he was one of my most favorite guests. He could talk about anything, architecture, and art, and
science, and medicine, and movies, and books, and writing. He knew so many
interesting people. And he can tell you about them in so many interesting
ways. He was, in fact, one of the most interesting conversationalists I
knew. And he will be deeply missed by his family, his readers, his
viewers, and people who knew of his remarkable gifts.


Charlie Rose did six interviews with Michael Crichton and I find them to be the most in-depth and revealing interviews Crichton ever did.

February 19, 2007
An hour of conversation with Michael Crichton, one of the best-selling authors in American publishing. Crichton discusses his new book, "Next", about DNA, biotechnology and the ownership of disease. Crichton likens the human to a cloud interacting with the environment. He also talks about global warming, where he take a number of controversial positions, including the stance that carbon dioxide is not the primary driver of increasing world temperatures.

November 26, 2002
An interview with novelist Michael Crichton about his life, technology, and his latest book, "Prey", a thriller involving an attack of microscopic machines.

November 16, 1999
A dialogue with best-selling author Michael Crichton about his love of storytelling, huge success with the "Jurassic Park" series, and work on the television show "E.R." He also introduces his book "Timeline", in which characters employ quantum teleportation to journey to the time of the Hundred Years' War.

December 26, 1996
An interview with author and screenwriter Michael Crichton about his book about an airline accident, "Airframe". He also talks about the role of the media during wartime and during accidents such as the one portrayed in his book.

September 22, 1995
Acclaimed novelist Michael Crichton talks about "The Lost World", his sequel to the bestselling "Jurassic Park". He also discusses his background as a novelist and physician, his television show "E.R.", and his plans for future projects.

January 14, 1994
In an hour long interview, Charlie Rose and Michael Crichton discuss Michael's novel "Disclosure".

Related Posts:
On the Day Michael Crichton Was Born

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