The best-selling US author and Emmy winner, who has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide, died "unexpectedly" of cancer after a courageous and private battle, said his family.

"He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth," said filmmaker Steven Spielberg, "There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place."

Born in Chicago on October 23, 1942, Crichton published his first major best seller, "The Andromeda Strain," also his first novel to be made into a Hollywood film.

His wrote in the 1970s and 1980s "The Terminal Man," "The Great Train Robbery," "Eaters of the Dead," "Congo" and "Sphere."

He also directed five other movies in this period: "Coma," "The Great Train Robbery," "Looker," "Runaway" and "Physical Evidence."

He wrote and directed "Westworld" in 1973, the first major Hollywood film to use computer digitized images and spawned a short-lived TV series.

But Crichton remains best known for "Jurassic Park" and its sequence "The Lost World" published in 1990s, in which decade he also wrote "Rising Sun," "Disclosure," and "Timeline," "Prey," "State of Fear" and "Next."

He also co-wrote the screenplay for "Jurassic Park" and for the 1996 tornado thriller "Twister," in this decade.

Crichton won an Emmy for"ER," the popular television series debuting in 1994 and becoming the No. 1-rated series the next year.

"He did this with a wry sense of humor that those who were privileged to know him personally will never forget," said his family in a statement.