Irving Sorkin nació el 14 de diciembre de 1918 en Utica, Nueva York, Estados Unidos. Murió el 18 de octubre de 2007 en Los Ángeles, California, EE.UU..
In 1989 he read an article by Kate McCabe in "Washingtonian" magazine. It was about a partnership between white surgeon Alfred Blalock and his black assistant Vivien Theodore Thomas. They developed surgical techniques that led to the advent of modern heart surgery. Sorkin was determined to see the true story made into a film. He finally saw his dream come true when HBO produced Something the Lord Made (2004) in 2004, starring Alan Rickman and Yasiin Bey.
