Background
Marchand was born in Buffalo, New York, to Raymond L. Marchand, a physician, and his wife, Marjorie Freeman, a pianist.
Marchand was born in Buffalo, New York, to Raymond L. Marchand, a physician, and his wife, Marjorie Freeman, a pianist.
She graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1949.
She began her career in theatre in 1951. She was perhaps most famous for her television portrayals of Margaret Pynchon on Lou Grant and Livia Soprano on The Sopranos. She was raised Methodist.
On daytime television, Marchand created the roles of Vinnie Phillips on the Columbia Broadcasting System soap opera, Love of Life and Theresa Lamonte on the National Broadcasting Company soap, Another World.
She appeared in many anthology series in the early days of television, including The Philco Playhouse (on which she starred in Marty opposite Rod Steiger), Kraft Theatre, Studio One, and Playhouse 90. Additional television credits include The Law and Mr.
Jones, Spenser: Foreign Hire, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Coach, and Night Court. She played Hester Crane, mother of Frasier Crane, on an episode of Cheers.
Marchand"s impressive feature film credits include Ladybug Ladybug, Maine, Natalie, Tell Maine That You Love Maine, Junie Moon, The Hospital, The Bostonians, Jefferson in Paris, The Bachelor Party (1957), Brain Donors, Reckless, The Naked Gun, Sabrina, Dear God, and From the Hip (1986).
At 70, after more than 50 years of acting, she played Livia Soprano, the mother of Tony Soprano, the main character on the Home Box Office television series The Sopranos. Marchand died from lung cancer and emphysema on June 18, 2000 in Stratford, Connecticut, one day before her 72nd birthday. 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), had died the previous year, also from cancer.
The couple had three children: Katie, an actress, David (Rosebud), a lawyer, and Rachel Sparer Bersier, an opera singer. Marchand was posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
A talented member of the Actors Studio, Marchand made her Broadway debut in The Taming of the Shrew in 1951.
Married Paul Sparer, July 7, 1951. Children: David, Kathryn, Rachel.