Nancy Marchand

Nancy Marchand Born June 19, 1928 in Buffalo, New York, USA Died June 18, 2000 in Stratford, Connecticut, USA (emphysema and lung cancer) Birth Name Nancy Lou Marchand Nickname Nan Height 5' 10" (1.78 m) Nancy Marchand's mother, a pianist, sent her shy daughter to acting classes in hopes of breaking her out of her shell. As a student at Carnegie Tech (Carnegie Mellon University), she studied the works of William Shakespeare and the other great playwrights and, upon graduation, set off to New York City. She received acclaim in the part of the tavern hostess in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" at the City Center in 1951. Her list of theater works include "The Cocktail Hour" and "The Balcony" (winning an Obie for both), "White Lies and Black Comedy" (Tony nominations for both), "The Octette Bridge Club" and "Morning's at Seven". She worked at many of the great theaters in the United States including, the Brattle Theatre, Long Wharf, Lincoln Center Repertory Company and the Goodman Theatre. Somewhere during her illustrious theatre career, she won the role of Mrs. Pynchon in the TV series Lou Grant (1977) with 'Ed Asner' for which she won four Emmys. Her last accolade was her role as Livia Soprano in HBO's The Sopranos (1999), for which she won a Golden Globe. Spouse (1) Paul Sparer (7 July 1951 - 19 November 1999) ( his death) ( 3 children) Trivia (8) Attended Carnegie Mellon University, and, later, drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. A chain smoker for many years, Marchand died on the day before what would have been her 72nd birthday from lung cancer and emphysema. Her television career reads like a book about the history of television: her first credit was co-starring in the groundbreaking classic Repertory Theatre: Marty (1953) with Rod Steiger, when CBS was at the height of its prestige as the "Tiffany network"; she won Emmy Awards as Mrs. Pynchon, the newspaper publisher on Lou Grant (1977) and she ended her career on the HBO series, The Sopranos (1999). Appeared with Al Pacino in Me, Natalie (1969) and with James Gandolfini in The Sopranos (1999). A son-in-law, Peter Bowe, is a science department head at a school in Stratford, CT. Was of English and French descent. Her portrait is one of the pictures used in Julia Roberts's character's photography exhibit in Closer (2004). Appeared in the second episode of Season 3 of The Sopranos (1999) despite having died almost six months before. Using CGI techniques, a scene between Tony Soprano and his mother was constructed using a body double. Producer David Chase decided to use this technique, having seen it being used in Gladiator (2000) when star Oliver Reed died during production.