Nancy Marchand was an American actress born on June 19, 1928, in Buffalo, New York, and she passed away on June 18, 2000, in Stratford, Connecticut. She was the only child of Dr. Raymond Louis Marchand, a dentist, and Marjorie Freeman, a piano teacher. Her great-grandfather Louis Marchand, a stone cutter, emigrated from France.

She grew up in Eggertsville, New York, and attended Amherst High School. She studied acting at the Studio Theatre School in Buffalo and later graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1949.

Nancy Marchand began her career in theater in 1951, making her Broadway debut in "The Taming of the Shrew". She won a Distinguished Performance Obie Award for "The Balcony" and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for "The White Liars & Black Comedy".

She was nominated four times for the Drama Desk Award, winning for "Morning's at Seven". She also originated roles in the CBS soap opera "Love of Life" and the NBC soap opera "Another World".

She was renowned for her television portrayals of Margaret Pynchon on "Lou Grant," for which she won four Emmy Awards, and Livia Soprano on "The Sopranos," for which she won a Golden Globe Award.

Her feature film credits included "The Bachelor Party," "Ladybug Ladybug," "Me, Natalie," "Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon," "The Hospital," "The Bostonians," "From the Hip," "Jefferson in Paris," "Brain Donors," "Reckless," "The Naked Gun," "Sabrina," and "Dear God".

Nancy Marchand was married to actor Paul Sparer from 1952 until his death in 1999, and they had three children. She was a chain smoker for many years, and she passed away from lung cancer and emphysema on the day before what would have been her 72nd birthday.