Married to Arleen Sorkin: A Life of Surprises and Generosity

A Tuesday Evening Like No Other

When you arrive at home on a Tuesday evening and have to double-check your own address because there is a line of valet parkers in front, one of whom hands you a ticket, and when you proceed into your home of find a crowd of well-dressed people, most of whom you do not know, and an orangutan sitting on your chair at the head of the table — when all of this happens and you’re not really that surprised, there is a better than average chance that you are married to Arleen Sorkin.

A Life of Fundraisers and Luminary Guests

The occasion on that Tuesday was a hastily arranged fundraiser for a South African human (and animal) rights organization, and the orangutan was by no means the only luminary I was surprised to find sitting in my chair over the three decades I spent with my big-hearted wife. Wasn’t it only six months earlier that I’d opened my door to find Fayard Nicholas (seated) and his brother Harold (mopping his brow) — the legendary Nicholas brothers tap dancing team, then in their 80s, who, Arleen had decided, needed a fundraiser.

An Empathetic and Charitable Wife

Arleen’s charitable streak had been known to me since literally the day we met, as staff writers on a sitcom. At lunch she approached me. “My name is Arleen and I’m an empath. I hear a clicking in your jaw that may be TMJ. Here is the number of a dentist who can help.”

A Life Filled with Surprises

While I did grow accustomed to opening my front door and stepping into, say, a concert given by a newly out of the closet, 300-pound former NFL lineman whose singing aspiration she had decided to champion, I never quite got used to opening a cabinet door and having twelve defibrillators fall out (“who knows who might need one — they’re good to have!”). Other cabinets held quantities of baldness-reversing combs, battery-powered fly swatters, reversible belts with digital message display (“could help someone break the ice on a first date”).

A Father’s Dream Realized

And there was that one idea that was, well, pretty good, the true story about the surgeon and his unschooled African American assistant who jointly revolutionized the surgical treatment of blue babies. For seven years Arleen pushed this idea around Hollywood, seeing it almost sold, then not, then sold and almost made, then not. And then, against every odd, “Something the Lord Made” was shot, aired on HBO, and won her father an Emmy.

A Last Surprise

Two Sundays ago we gathered to say goodbye to our dentist, doctor, friend, spouse and mother to so many. Amid the tears, there was a last surprise. She had purchased not seven, but nine burial plots. There could be no doubt as to where she’d go. The middle. Our center square, once and forever.

About the Author

Christopher Lloyd, co-creator and executive producer of “Modern Family” and a 12-time Emmy winner, was married to actor-writer Arleen Sorkin.