Nancy Marchand

Nancy Marchand
Born	June 19, 1928(1928-06-19) Buffalo, New York, USA
Died	June 18 ,2000 (aged 71) Stratford, Connecticut, USA
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1951-2000
Spouse	Paul Sparer (1951-1999)

Nancy Marchand (June 19, 1928 – June 18, 2000) was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television.

She was perhaps most famous for her portrayal of Margaret Pynchon in Lou Grant and, in later life, Livia Soprano on The Sopranos.

Biography

Early years

Marchand was born in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Marjorie Freeman, a pianist, and Raymond L. Marchand, a physician.^[1]

Career

Marchand made her Broadway debut in The Taming of the Shrew in 1951. Additional theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice, Love's Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, Forty Carats, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, The Plough and the Stars, The Glass Menagerie, Morning's at Seven, Awake and Sing!, The Octette Bridge Club, Love Letters, Man and Superman, The Importance of Being Earnest, The School for Scandal, The Balcony, for which she won a Distinguished Performance Obie Award, and Black Comedy/White Lies, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. She was nominated four times for the Drama Desk Award, winning for Morning's at Seven. She won a second Obie for her performance in A. R. Gurney's The Cocktail Hour.

Television

On daytime television, Marchand created the roles of Vinnie Phillips on the CBS soap opera, Love of Life and Theresa Lamonte on the NBC soap, Another World. She also starred as matriarch, Edith Cushing, on the short-lived soap, Lovers and Friends.

On prime time television, Marchand was known for her roles of autocratic newspaper publisher Margaret Pynchon on Lou Grant - winning four Emmy Awards as Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series for her performance - and matriarch Livia Soprano, mother of Tony Soprano, on the HBO series The Sopranos, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She appeared in many anthology series in the early days of television, including The Philco Television Playhouse (on which she starred in Marty opposite Rod Steiger), Kraft Television Theatre, Studio One, and Playhouse 90. Additional television credits include The Law and Mr. Jones, Spenser: For Hire, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Coach, and Night Court. She also portrayed Hester Crane, mother of Frasier Crane, in an episode of Cheers.

Films

Marchand's feature film credits include Ladybug Ladybug; Me, Natalie; Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon; The Hospital; The Bostonians; Jefferson in Paris; Brain Donors; Reckless; The Naked Gun; Sabrina; and Dear God.

Death

Marchand died of emphysema and lung cancer in 2000 in Stratford, Connecticut, one day before her 72nd birthday and as a result her character's death was written into the third season story line of The Sopranos. Her husband of 48 years, actor Paul Sparer (1923–1999), also died of cancer.^[2][3] The couple had three children.

References

1. ^ "Nancy Marchand". FilmReference. 2010. http://www.filmreference.com/film/65/Nancy-Marchand.html. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
2. ^ Paul Sparer
3. ^ Social Security Death Index

External links

• Nancy Marchand at Find a Grave
• Nancy Marchand at the Internet Broadway Database
• Nancy Marchand at the Internet Movie Database
• Nancy Marchand at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

Persondata
Name	Marchand, Nancy
Alternative names
Short description	Actress
Date of birth	June 19, 1928
Place of birth	Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Date of death	June 18, 2000
Place of death	Stratford, Connecticut, U.S.