Well that’s a bummer… first the death of America as we know it last night and now author/director Michael Crichton is dead at the age of 66.

Though I’ve never read a Crichton book since The Andromeda Strain as a kid, the guy directed two of my favorite childhood flicks, COMA (1978) and WESTWORLD (1973). And yeah, I totally dug the original THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN movie as well as his later cinematic contributions like TWISTER (co-written with his then-wife, SLEDGE HAMMER! actress Anne-Marie Martin!) and JURASSIC PARK (which was based on his book of the same name).

There’s a full obit at Yahoo News, so check it out. A tip of the hat to a true original!