Irving Sorkin and Joyce Sorkin are famously known as the Jewish parents of Arleen Sorkin, an American actress, scriptwriter, television host, and comedian.
While you will come to know more about her mother, Arleen’s father, Irving Sorkin was a dentist who practiced for several years before he passed. He was also a writer, singer, and producer well known for his contribution to the 2004 docudrama, Something the Lord Has Made – a multiple award-winning movie that chronicles the long partnership of Johns Hopkins University surgeon Alfred Blalock, and his African-American laboratory assistant, Vivien Thomas.
Meet Arleen Sorkin’s Parents
Arleen Sorkin’s parents come from a long line of Jewish playwrights, musicians, comic book creators, performers, and comedians who lived in the “Borscht Belt” near the Catskill Mountains in New York in the early 20th century. These newcomers were also the last of the Central European “Yiddish Theater” tradition, where Jewish comedy and music dominated the entertainment scene with a distinctive showcase of outrageously irreverent songs and sharp observational wit. However, the performers eventually found themselves driven out due to widespread religious and cultural persecution.
Not much is known about how they met, but Irving Sorkin and Joyce Sorkin officially got married in 1947 and the pair remained together until October 18, 2007, when Sorkin died of lymphoma in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Although there are several interesting stories about the celebrity parents, they are mostly identified today as the parents of Arleen Sorkin, a popular American entertainer who was born on October 14, 1955, and died on August 24, 2023, at the age of 67 from multiple sclerosis. Prior to her demise, Arleen was credited for several critically acclaimed movies including I Don’t Buy Kisses Anymore (1991) It’s Pat (1994), Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), and Comic Book: The Movie (2004).
Meanwhile, Arleens’ father, Irving Sorkin was born on December 14, 1918, in Utica, New York, USA. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1944, served in the Army Dental Corps in WWII, and later continued his dental practice in Washington, DC.
Conversely, information regarding Arleen’s mother, Joyce, is minimal. She seems to have been a strong supporter of her husband’s professional endeavors, nevertheless. She also is a loving grandmother to Eli and Owen, Arleens’ children.
Irving Sorkin, the Father of Arleen Sorkin, was a Dentist with a Knack for Entertainment
Apart from his prowess in the medical field, Irving also wrote plays and film treatments and he also enjoyed pitching ideas to Hollywood.
During the 40 years he practiced in Southeast Washington and Temple Hills, Dr. Sorkin brought, a theatrical touch to the practice of dentistry. “He was apt to break into song when he was probing molars and bicuspid” his wife recalled. She also said he often asked his musically inclined patients to jot down his ideas for songs.
According to his son, Arthur Sorkin, If patients didn’t have enough money, Dr. Sorkin sometimes bartered his services for the saxophone, trumpet, or accordion, which he took home for his three children. This became the reason why all his children learned almost every instrument. Arthur also said his father had a true family practice. He personalized his relationship with patients. Irving was more interested in people, and their family history than he was in their clinical history, his son once remarked.
He was known to get into water fights with his youngest patients, as they sprayed each other with dental irrigators. As they got older, Dr. Sorkin wrote letters of recommendation when they applied to college.
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Arleen’s father kept dreaming of Hollywood even while practicing medicine
Dr. Sorkin’s dreams of working in Hollywood persisted throughout the years of filling cavities, creating crowns, and extracting teeth. According to his son Arthur, more agency and producer phone numbers than dental doctors could be found in his Rolodex. He wrote plays and screen treatments for years at his house in Northwest Washington in the hopes that one of his ideas might be turned into a movie.
He got closer to his dreams when he read a piece written by Kate McCabe in “Washingtonian” magazine in 1989 and the article properly explained the relationship between black assistant Vivien Theodore Thomas and white surgeon Alfred Blalock of Johns Hopkins Hospital. The duo created surgical methods that paved the way for contemporary heart surgery.
Thomas was a man who shied away from the spotlight throughout his life, and outside of the Hopkins surgeons he taught, he was seldom known. In a 1985 discussion with a well-known Washington, D.C. surgeon who called Thomas “an absolute legend,” Washington writer Katie McCabe learned of Thomas’ work with Blalock on the day of his death.
After reading the story, Sorkin did all that was within his power to see that the story was turned into a movie. When HBO released Something the Lord Made in 2004, he finally witnessed his dream come true.
Irving Sorkin first called his daughter when he discovered Vivien Thomas’ story
When Sorkin was moved by Viveins’ story he immediately phoned his daughter Arleen Sorkin, who was already working as an actor and producer in Hollywood. According to the talented Jewish-American actress, her father just wanted others to be aware of this individual.
The movie “Something the Lord Made,” starring Alan Rickman as Blalock and rapper Mos Def as Thomas, was released by HBO in 2004 after 15 years of failed business ventures and broken promises. After it was released eventually, the co-producer credit listed Dr. Sorkin’s name.
Three Emmy Awards, including best made-for-TV movie, went to the movie. At the awards show, actor Kelsey Grammer assisted 85-year-old Irving Sorkin as he entered the stage to take his well-deserved moment.
Joyce said her husband would have been a history professor if he was not a dentist
According to Joyce Sorkin, her husband would have been a history professor instead of a dentist. She claimed that he was equally interested in history from a cinematic and scholarly perspective. According to her, he wanted to tell gripping stories on the big screen, and in 1989 he discovered the ideal platform.
She also said he authored a novel about Christopher Columbus since he had a special affinity for historical issues. He wrote plays about Solomon and Sheba from the Old Testament of the Bible as well as stories on the Roman ruler, Nero.
Dr. Sorkin ran a long-running campaign to have Jan Karski, a Polish ambassador who was the first person outside of Nazi Germany to report the circumstances of their concentration camps during World War II, get the Nobel Peace Prize. Karski passed away without winning the Nobel Prize in 2000 in Washington.
