Something the Lord Made: Difference between revisions

 

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| image = Something the Lord Made.jpg

| image = Something the Lord Made.jpg

| image_size = 220

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| genre =

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| creator =

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| writer = Peter Silverman<br />[[Robert Caswell]]

| writer = Peter Silverman<br />[[Robert Caswell]]

| screenplay =

| screenplay =

| story =

| story =

| director = [[Joseph Sargent]]

| director = [[Joseph Sargent]]

| starring = [[Mos Def]]<br />[[Alan Rickman]]<br />[[Kyra Sedgwick]]<br />[[Gabrielle Union]]<br />[[Mary Stuart Masterson]]

| starring = [[ ]]<br>[[ ]]<br>[[Kyra Sedgwick]]<br >[[Gabrielle Union]]<br >[[Mary Stuart Masterson]]

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==Plot==

==Plot==

”Something the Lord Made” tells the story of the 34-year partnership that begins in Depression Era [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] in 1930 when Blalock ([[Alan Rickman]]) hires Thomas ([[Mos Def]]) as an assistant at his [[Vanderbilt University]] lab, expecting him to perform janitorial work. Thomas’ remarkable manual dexterity and intellectual acumen confound Blalock’s expectations, and Thomas rapidly becomes indispensable as a research partner to Blalock in his forays into heart surgery.

tells the story of the 34-year partnership that begins in Depression [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] in 1930 when [[ ]] hires [[ ]] as an assistant at his [[Vanderbilt University]] lab, expecting him to perform janitorial work. Thomas’ remarkable manual dexterity and intellectual acumen confound Blalock’s expectations, and Thomas rapidly becomes indispensable as a research partner to Blalock in his forays into heart surgery.

The film traces the two men’s work when they move in 1943 from Vanderbilt to [[Johns Hopkins Hospital|Johns Hopkins]], an institution where the only black employees are janitors and where Thomas must enter by the back door. They attack the congenital heart defect of [[Tetralogy of Fallot]], also known as [[Blue Baby Syndrome]], and in so doing they launch the field of heart surgery. [[Helen Taussig]] ([[Mary Stuart Masterson]]), the pediatrician/cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, challenges Blalock to come up with a surgical solution for her Blue Babies. She needs a new {{lang|la|[[ductus]]}} for them to oxygenate their blood.

move from Vanderbilt to [[Johns Hopkins Hospital|Johns Hopkins]], an institution where the only black employees are janitors and where Thomas must enter by the back door. They attack the congenital heart defect of [[Tetralogy of Fallot]], also known as [[Blue Baby Syndrome]], and in so doing they launch the field of heart surgery. [[Helen Taussig ]], the pediatrician/cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, challenges Blalock to come up with a surgical solution for her Blue Babies. She needs a new {{lang|la|[[ductus]]}} for them to oxygenate their blood.

The duo is seen experimenting on stray dogs they got from the local dog pound, deliberately giving the dogs the heart defect and then trying to solve it. The outcome looks good and they are excited to operate on a baby with the defect, but in a dream, Thomas sees the baby grown up and crying because she is dying. Thomas asks why she is dying in the dream and she says it is because she has a baby heart. Blalock interprets his dream as implying that their sewing technique did not work because the sutures failed to grow with the heart, and developed a new version with that feature.

The duo is seen experimenting on stray dogs they got from the local dog pound, deliberately giving the dogs the heart defect and then trying to solve it. The outcome looks good and they are excited to operate on a baby with the defect, but in a dream, Thomas sees the baby grown up and crying because she is dying. Thomas asks why she is dying in the dream and she says it is because she has a baby heart. Blalock interprets his dream as implying that their sewing technique did not work because the sutures failed to grow with the heart, and developed a new version with that feature.

The film dramatizes Blalock’s and Thomas’s fight to save the dying Blue Babies. Blalock praises Thomas’s surgical skill as being “like something the Lord made”, and insists that Thomas coach him through the first Blue Baby surgery over the protests of Johns Hopkins administrators. Despite their close partnership in the lab, outside they are separated by the prevailing racism. Blalock makes a mistake by accidentally cutting an artery at the wrong place, but with Thomas’s assistance, is able to complete the surgery. As news quickly spreads of their successes, parents from all over the country flock to the hospital with their sick children, hoping that the surgery can cure them too. Doctors from around the world also come to learn from Thomas how to do the surgery to treat their Blue Baby Syndrome patients.

The film dramatizes Blalock’s and Thomas’s fight to save the dying Blue Babies. Blalock praises Thomas’s surgical skill as being “like something the Lord made”, and insists that Thomas coach him through the first Blue Baby surgery over the protests of Johns Hopkins administrators. Despite their close partnership in the lab, outside they are separated by the prevailing racism. Blalock makes a mistake by accidentally cutting an artery at the wrong place, but with Thomas’s assistance, is able to complete the surgery. As news quickly spreads of their successes, parents from all over the country flock to the hospital with their sick children, hoping that the surgery can cure them too. Doctors from around the world also come to learn from Thomas how to do the surgery to treat their Blue Baby Syndrome patients.

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Thomas attends Blalock’s parties as a bartender, moonlighting for extra income, and when Blalock is honored for the Blue Baby work at the [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] Belvedere Hotel, Thomas is not among the invited guests. Instead, he watches from behind a potted palm at the rear of the ballroom. From there, he listens to Blalock give credit to the other doctors who assisted in the work yet makes no mention of Thomas or his contributions. The next day, Thomas reveals that he saw the ceremony, and quits Blalock’s lab. Thomas’s heart is with the lifesaving work he left behind and he finds himself unhappy in other endeavors. He therefore decides to overlook Blalock’s failure to properly acknowledge his contributions and returns to his lab.

Thomas attends Blalock’s parties as a bartender, moonlighting for extra income, and when Blalock is honored for the Blue Baby work at the [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] Belvedere Hotel, Thomas is not among the invited guests. Instead, he watches from behind a potted palm at the rear of the ballroom. From there, he listens to Blalock give credit to the other doctors who assisted in the work yet makes no mention of Thomas or his contributions. The next day, Thomas reveals that he saw the ceremony, and quits Blalock’s lab. Thomas’s heart is with the lifesaving work he left behind and he finds himself unhappy in other endeavors. He therefore decides to overlook Blalock’s failure to properly acknowledge his contributions and returns to his lab.

In 1964, one day before Blalock’s death, he sees Thomas, now a professional instructor of surgeons in the open heart surgery wing. After Blalock’s death, Thomas continued his work at Johns Hopkins training surgeons. In a formal ceremony in 1976, Johns Hopkins belatedly recognized the importance of Thomas’s work and awarded him an [[honorary doctorate]]. A portrait of Thomas was placed on a wall at Johns Hopkins next to Blalock’s portrait, which had been placed there years earlier. Later, after looking at the portraits, Thomas walks away when the hospital [[intercom]] pages “Dr. Vivien Thomas”. A shot of the portraits made for the film—based on the actors who played Blalock and Thomas—[[Dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolves]] to a shot of the portraits at Johns Hopkins. The film concludes with a [[Intertitle|title card]] revealing that Blalock and Thomas’s work launched the field of cardiac surgery, and that doctors in the [[United States]] now perform over 1.75 million heart operations per year.

In 1964, one day before Blalock’s death, he sees Thomas, now a professional instructor of surgeons in the open heart surgery wing. After Blalock’s death, Thomas continued his work at Johns Hopkins training surgeons. In a formal ceremony in 1976, Johns Hopkins belatedly recognized the importance of Thomas’s work and awarded him an [[honorary doctorate]]. A portrait of Thomas was placed on a wall at Johns Hopkins next to Blalock’s portrait, which had been placed there years earlier. Later, after looking at the portraits, Thomas walks away when the hospital [[intercom]] pages . A shot of the portraits made for the film—based on the actors who played Blalock and Thomas—[[Dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolves]] to a shot of the portraits at Johns Hopkins. The film concludes with a [[Intertitle|title card]] revealing that Blalock and Thomas’s work launched the field of cardiac surgery, and that doctors in the United States now perform over 1.75 million heart operations per year.

==Cast==

==Cast==

* [[Alan Rickman]] as [[Alfred Blalock]]

* [[Alan Rickman]] as [[Alfred Blalock]]

* [[Mos Def]] as [[Vivien Thomas]]

* [[Mos Def]] as [[Vivien Thomas]]

* [[Kyra Sedgwick]] as Mary Blalock

* [[Kyra Sedgwick]] as Mary Blalock

* [[Gabrielle Union]] as Clara Thomas

* [[Gabrielle Union]] as Clara Thomas

⚫ ⚫

* [[Charles S. Dutton]] as William Thomas

* [[Charles S. Dutton]] as William Thomas

* [[Mary Stuart Masterson]] as [[Helen B. Taussig]]

* [[Mary Stuart Masterson]] as [[Helen B. Taussig]]

⚫ ⚫

* John Leslie Wolfe as Dr. [[Walter Dandy]]

* Brooke & Kara Gaigler as [[Eileen Saxon]]

* [[Nat Benchley]] as Karsh

* [[Robert F. Chew]] as Janitor

==Film background==

====

A man who in life avoided the limelight, Thomas remained virtually unknown outside the circle of Hopkins surgeons he trained. Thomas’ story was first brought to public attention by Washington writer Katie McCabe, who learned of his work with Blalock on the day of his death in a 1985 interview with a prominent Washington, D.C. surgeon who described Thomas as “an absolute legend.” McCabe’s 1989 ”[[Washingtonian (magazine)|Washingtonian]]” magazine article on Thomas, “Like Something the Lord Made”,<ref name=McCabe/> generated widespread interest in the story and inspired the making of a 2003 public television documentary on Thomas and Blalock, “Partners of the Heart.“<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0301/close_up.cfm|title=Almost A Miracle|work=Dome|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University|author=Mary Ann Ayd|date=February 2003|volume=54|number=1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302102051/http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0301/close_up.cfm|archive-date=2012-03-02}}</ref> A Washington, D.C. dentist, Irving Sorkin, discovered McCabe’s article and brought it to Hollywood, where it was developed into the film.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/10/AR2007111001586.html|title=Dentist Had Hankering for Show Business|newspaper=The Washington Post|author=Matt Schudel|date=November 11, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-25-me-sorkin25-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|title=Irving Sorkin, 88; dentist saw Hollywood dream come true as award-winning producer|author=Dennis McLellan|date=October 25, 2007}}</ref>

A man who in life avoided the limelight, Thomas remained virtually unknown outside the circle of Hopkins surgeons he trained. Thomas’ story was first brought to public attention by writer Katie McCabe, who learned of his work with Blalock on the day of his death in a 1985 interview with a prominent Washington, D.C. surgeon who described Thomas as “an absolute legend.” McCabe’s 1989 magazine article on Thomas, “Like Something the Lord Made”,<ref name=McCabe/> generated widespread interest in the story and inspired the making of a 2003 public television documentary on Thomas and Blalock, Partners of the Heart.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0301/close_up.cfm|title=Almost A Miracle|work=Dome|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University|author=Mary Ann Ayd|date=February 2003|volume=54|number=1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302102051/http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0301/close_up.cfm|archive-date=2012-03-02}}</ref> A Washington, D.C. dentist, Irving Sorkin, discovered McCabe’s article and brought it to Hollywood, where it was developed into the film.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/10/AR2007111001586.html|title=Dentist Had Hankering for Show Business|newspaper=The Washington Post|author=Matt Schudel|date=November 11, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-25-me-sorkin25-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|title=Irving Sorkin, 88; dentist saw Hollywood dream come true as award-winning producer|author=Dennis McLellan|date=October 25, 2007}}</ref>

The film was shot in part in the historic [[Warfield Complex, Hubner, and T Buildings]] of the [[Springfield Hospital Center]] in [[Sykesville, Maryland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=HBO chooses Springfield, downtown as sets for film |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2003/11/30/hbo-chooses-springfield-downtown-as-sets-for-film/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=November 30, 2003}}</ref> It was also partially shot on location on the East Homewood and Homewood campuses of Johns Hopkins.

The film was shot in part in the historic [[Warfield Complex, Hubner, and T Buildings]] of the [[Springfield Hospital Center]] in [[Sykesville, Maryland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=HBO chooses Springfield, downtown as sets for film |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2003/11/30/hbo-chooses-springfield-downtown-as-sets-for-film/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=November 30, 2003}}</ref> It was also partially shot on location on the East Homewood and Homewood campuses of Johns Hopkins.

==Awards and nominations==

==Awards and nominations==

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| [[Casting Society of America#Artios Awards|Artios Awards]]

| [[Casting Society of America#Artios Awards|Artios Awards]]

| Best Casting – TV Movie of the Week

| Best Casting – TV Movie of the Week

| Lynn Kressel and Pat Moran

| Lynn Kressel Pat Moran

| {{won}}

| {{won}}

| align=”center”| <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.castingsociety.com/awards/artios/2004 |title=2004 Artios Awards |access-date=October 12, 2004 |website=www.castingsociety.com |language=en |archive-date=January 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118202159/https://www.castingsociety.com/awards/artios/2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

| align=”center”| <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.castingsociety.com/awards/artios/2004 |title=2004 Artios Awards |access-date=October 12, 2004 |website=www.castingsociety.com |language=en |archive-date=January 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118202159/https://www.castingsociety.com/awards/artios/2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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| rowspan=”9″| [[56th Primetime Emmy Awards|Primetime Emmy Awards]]

| rowspan=”9″| [[56th Primetime Emmy Awards|Primetime Emmy Awards]]

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie|Outstanding Made for Television Movie]]

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie|Outstanding Made for Television Movie]]

| [[Robert W. Cort]], [[David Madden (executive)|David Madden]], [[Eric Hetzel]], <br> Michael Drake, and [[Julian Krainin]]

| [[Robert W. Cort]], [[David Madden (executive)|David Madden]], [[Eric Hetzel]], <br>Michael Drake [[Julian Krainin]]

| {{won}}

| {{won}}

| align=”center” rowspan=”9″| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/something-lord-made |title=Something the Lord Made |website=Emmys.com |publisher=[[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] |access-date=July 13, 2017}}</ref>

| align=”center” rowspan=”9″| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/something-lord-made |title=Something the Lord Made |website=Emmys.com |publisher=[[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] |access-date=July 13, 2017}}</ref>

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|-

|-

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special]]

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special]]

| Peter Silverman and [[Robert Caswell]]

| Peter Silverman [[Robert Caswell]]

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

|-

|-

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special]]

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special]]

| Lynn Kressel and [[Pat Moran (filmmaker)|Pat Moran]]

| Lynn Kressel Pat Moran

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

|-

|-

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| {{won}}

| {{won}}

|-

|-

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special]]

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special]]

| Michael Brown

| Michael Brown

| {{won}}

| {{won}}

|-

|-

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie]]

| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie]]

| Rick Ash, Adam Jenkins, and Bruce Litecky

| Rick Ash, Adam Jenkins Bruce Litecky

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

|-

|-

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| rowspan=”5″| [[Black Reel Awards of 2005|Black Reel Awards]]

| rowspan=”5″| [[Black Reel Awards of 2005|Black Reel Awards]]

| [[Black Reel Award for Outstanding Television Movie or Limited Series|Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series]]

| [[Black Reel Award for Outstanding Television Movie or Limited Series|Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series]]

| Robert W. Cort and Eric Hetzel

| Robert W. Cort Eric Hetzel

| {{won}}

| {{won}}

| align=”center” rowspan=”5″| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.blackreelawards.com/black-reel-awards-brats |title=Black Reel Awards – Past Winners |website=[[Black Reel Awards]] |access-date=December 18, 2021}}</ref>

| align=”center” rowspan=”5″| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.blackreelawards.com/black-reel-awards-brats |title=Black Reel Awards – Past Winners |website=[[Black Reel Awards]] |access-date=December 18, 2021}}</ref>

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| [[Cinema Audio Society Awards]]

| [[Cinema Audio Society Awards]]

| [[Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movie or Limited Series|Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series]]

| [[Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movie or Limited Series|Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series]]

| Bruce Litecky, Rick Ash, and Adam Jenkins

| Bruce Litecky, Rick Ash Adam Jenkins

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

| align=”center”| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000175/2005/1/?ref_=ev_eh |title=Nominees/Winners |publisher=[[IMDb]] |accessdate=May 8, 2019}}</ref>

| align=”center”| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000175/2005/1/?ref_=ev_eh |title=Nominees/Winners |publisher=[[IMDb]] |accessdate=May 8, 2019}}</ref>

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|-

|-

| rowspan=”2″| [[62nd Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]

| rowspan=”2″| [[62nd Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]

| colspan=”2″| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film|Best Miniseries or Television Film]]

| colspan=”2″| [[Golden Globe Award for Best or Television Film|Best Miniseries or Television Film]]

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

| align=”center” rowspan=”2″| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/something-lord-made |title=Something the Lord Made – Golden Globes |website=[[HFPA]] |access-date=July 5, 2021 |ref={{harvid|HFPA|2005}}}}</ref>

| align=”center” rowspan=”2″| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/something-lord-made |title=Something the Lord Made – Golden Globes |website=[[HFPA]] |access-date=July 5, 2021 |ref={{harvid|HFPA|2005}}}}</ref>

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|-

|-

| colspan=”2″| [[List of Peabody Award winners (2000–2009)#2004|Peabody Awards]]

| colspan=”2″| [[List of Peabody Award winners (2000–2009)#2004|Peabody Awards]]

| Cort/Madden Productions <br> in association with [[HBO Films]]

| Cort/Madden Productions <br>in association with [[HBO Films]]

| {{won}}

| {{won}}

| align=”center”| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/something-the-lord-made/ |title=Something the Lord Made |website=[[Peabody Awards]] |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>

| align=”center”| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/something-the-lord-made/ |title=Something the Lord Made |website=[[Peabody Awards]] |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>

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| [[16th Producers Guild of America Awards|Producers Guild of America Awards]]

| [[16th Producers Guild of America Awards|Producers Guild of America Awards]]

| [[Producers Guild of America Award for Best Long-Form Television|David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television]]

| [[Producers Guild of America Award for Best Long-Form Television|David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television]]

| Robert W. Cort, David Madden, <br> Mike Drake, and Eric Hetzel

| Robert W. Cort, David Madden, <br>Mike Drake Eric Hetzel

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

| align=”center”| <ref>{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Susan|title=Producers’ ’04 nominees|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-06-wk-quick6.3-story.html|access-date=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 6, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921120139/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/06/news/wk-quick6.3|archive-date=September 21, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

| align=”center”| <ref>{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Susan|title=Producers’ ’04 nominees|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-06-wk-quick6.3-story.html|access-date=September 21, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 6, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921120139/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/06/news/wk-quick6.3|archive-date=September 21, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

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| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

|-

|-

| [[Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film|Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or <br> Motion Picture Made for Television]]

| [[Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film|Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or <br>Motion Picture Made for Television]]

| [[Mary Stuart Masterson]]

| [[Mary Stuart Masterson]]

| {{nom}}

| {{nom}}

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| [[57th Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]

| [[57th Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]

| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Original|Long Form – Original]]

| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Original|Long Form – Original]]

| Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell

| Peter Silverman Robert Caswell

| {{won}}

| {{won}}

| align=”center”| <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners/2005-1996 |title=Writers Guild Awards Winners: 2005-1996 |publisher=[[Writers Guild of America]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517163111/https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners/2005-1996 |archive-date=May 17, 2019 |access-date=April 10, 2012}}</ref>

| align=”center”| <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners/2005-1996 |title=Writers Guild Awards Winners: 2005-1996 |publisher=[[Writers Guild of America]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517163111/https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners/2005-1996 |archive-date=May 17, 2019 |access-date=April 10, 2012}}</ref>

2004 television film directed by Joseph Sargent

Something the Lord Made is a 2004 American made-for-television biographical drama film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas (1910–1985) and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock (1899–1964), the “Blue Baby doctor” who pioneered modern heart surgery. Based on the National Magazine Award-winning Washingtonian magazine article “Like Something the Lord Made” by Katie McCabe,^[1][2] the film was directed by Joseph Sargent and written by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell.

The film tells the story of the 34-year partnership that begins in Depression era Nashville in 1930 when Dr. Alfred Blalock hires Vivien Thomas as an assistant at his Vanderbilt University lab, expecting him to perform janitorial work. Thomas’ remarkable manual dexterity and intellectual acumen confound Blalock’s expectations, and Thomas rapidly becomes indispensable as a research partner to Blalock in his forays into heart surgery.

In 1943, Blalock and Thomas move from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, an institution where the only black employees are janitors and where Thomas must enter by the back door. They attack the congenital heart defect of Tetralogy of Fallot, also known as Blue Baby Syndrome, and in so doing they launch the field of heart surgery. Dr. Helen Taussig, the pediatrician/cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, challenges Blalock to come up with a surgical solution for her Blue Babies. She needs a new ductus for them to oxygenate their blood.

The duo is seen experimenting on stray dogs they got from the local dog pound, deliberately giving the dogs the heart defect and then trying to solve it. The outcome looks good and they are excited to operate on Eileen Saxon, a baby with the defect, but in a dream, Thomas sees the baby grown up and crying because she is dying. Thomas asks why she is dying in the dream and she says it is because she has a baby heart. Blalock interprets his dream as implying that their sewing technique did not work because the sutures failed to grow with the heart, and developed a new version with that feature.

The film dramatizes Blalock’s and Thomas’s fight to save the dying Blue Babies. Blalock praises Thomas’s surgical skill as being “like something the Lord made”, and insists that Thomas coach him through the first Blue Baby surgery over the protests of Johns Hopkins administrators. Despite their close partnership in the lab, outside they are separated by the prevailing racism. Blalock makes a mistake by accidentally cutting an artery at the wrong place, but with Thomas’s assistance, is able to complete the surgery. As news quickly spreads of their successes, parents from all over the country flock to the hospital with their sick children, hoping that the surgery can cure them too. Doctors from around the world also come to learn from Thomas how to do the surgery to treat their Blue Baby Syndrome patients.

Thomas attends Blalock’s parties as a bartender, moonlighting for extra income, and when Blalock is honored for the Blue Baby work at the segregated Belvedere Hotel, Thomas is not among the invited guests. Instead, he watches from behind a potted palm at the rear of the ballroom. From there, he listens to Blalock give credit to the other doctors who assisted in the work yet makes no mention of Thomas or his contributions. The next day, Thomas reveals that he saw the ceremony, and quits Blalock’s lab. Thomas’s heart is with the lifesaving work he left behind and he finds himself unhappy in other endeavors. He therefore decides to overlook Blalock’s failure to properly acknowledge his contributions and returns to his lab.

In 1964, one day before Blalock’s death, he sees Thomas, now a professional instructor of surgeons in the open heart surgery wing. After Blalock’s death, Thomas continued his work at Johns Hopkins training surgeons. In a formal ceremony in 1976, Johns Hopkins belatedly recognized the importance of Thomas’s work and awarded him an honorary doctorate. A portrait of Thomas was placed on a wall at Johns Hopkins next to Blalock’s portrait, which had been placed there years earlier. Later, after looking at the portraits, Thomas walks away when the hospital intercom pages him. A shot of the portraits made for the film—based on the actors who played Blalock and Thomas—dissolves to a shot of the portraits at Johns Hopkins. The film concludes with a title card revealing that Blalock and Thomas’s work launched the field of cardiac surgery, and that doctors in the United States now perform over 1.75 million heart operations per year.

A man who in life avoided the limelight, Vivien Thomas remained virtually unknown outside the circle of Johns Hopkins surgeons he trained. Thomas’ story was first brought to public attention by Washingtonian writer Katie McCabe, who learned of his work with Blalock on the day of his death in a 1985 interview with a prominent Washington, D.C. surgeon who described Thomas as “an absolute legend.” McCabe’s 1989 magazine article on Thomas, “Like Something the Lord Made”,^[1] generated widespread interest in the story and inspired the making of a 2003 public television documentary on Thomas and Alfred Blalock, Partners of the Heart.^[3] A Washington, D.C. dentist, Irving Sorkin, discovered McCabe’s article and brought it to Hollywood, where it was developed into the film.^[4][5]

The film was shot in part in the historic Warfield Complex, Hubner, and T Buildings of the Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville, Maryland.^[6] It was also partially shot on location on the East Homewood and Homewood campuses of Johns Hopkins University.

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2004	Artios Awards	Best Casting – TV Movie of the Week	Lynn Kressel & Pat Moran	Won	[7]
	Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Motion Picture Made for Television		Nominated	[8]
		Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries	Mos Def	Nominated
			Alan Rickman	Nominated
		Best Costume Design in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Editing in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Lighting in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Won
		Best Production Design in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Made for Television Movie	Robert W. Cort, David Madden, Eric Hetzel, Michael Drake & Julian Krainin	Won	[9]
		Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Mos Def	Nominated
			Alan Rickman	Nominated
		Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special	Joseph Sargent	Nominated
		Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special	Peter Silverman &Robert Caswell	Nominated
		Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special	Lynn Kressel & Pat Moran	Nominated
		Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie	Donald M. Morgan	Won
		Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special	Michael Brown	Won
		Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie	Rick Ash, Adam Jenkins & Bruce Litecky	Nominated
2005	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Non-Commercial Television	Michael Brown	Won	[10]
	American Film Institute Awards	Top 10 Television Programs		Won	[11]
	BET Awards	Best Actress	Gabrielle Union	Nominated	[12]
	Black Reel Awards	Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series	Robert W. Cort & Eric Hetzel	Won	[13]
		Outstanding Director, TV Movie or Mini-Series	Joseph Sargent	Nominated
		Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Mini-Series	Mos Def	Nominated
		Outstanding Supporting Actor, TV Movie or Mini-Series	Clayton LeBouef	Won
		Outstanding Supporting Actress, TV Movie or Mini-Series	Gabrielle Union	Nominated
	Cinema Audio Society Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series	Bruce Litecky, Rick Ash & Adam Jenkins	Nominated	[14]
	Critics’ Choice Awards	Best Picture Made for Television		Nominated	[15]
	Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television or Miniseries	Joseph Sargent	Won	[16]
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Miniseries or Television Film		Nominated	[17]
		Best Actor – Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television	Mos Def	Nominated
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special		Won	[18]
		Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	Mos Def	Nominated
		Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	Gabrielle Union	Nominated
	NAMIC Vision Awards	Best Drama		Nominated
		Best Dramatic Performance	Mos Def	Nominated
	Peabody Awards		Cort/Madden Productions in association with HBO Films	Won	[19]
	Producers Guild of America Awards	David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television	Robert W. Cort, David Madden, Mike Drake & Eric Hetzel	Nominated	[20]
	Satellite Awards	Best Motion Picture Made for Television		Nominated	[21]
		Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television	Mos Def	Nominated
			Alan Rickman	Nominated
		Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television	Mary Stuart Masterson	Nominated
	Television Critics Association Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials		Nominated	[22]
	Writers Guild of America Awards	Long Form – Original	Peter Silverman & Robert Caswell	Won	[23]