A shy child, Marchand's mother, a pianist, sent her daughter to acting classes in hopes of breaking out of her shell. As a student at Carnegie Tech (Carnegie Mellon University), she studied Shakespeare and the other great playwrights and upon graduation, set off to New York City. She received acclaim in the part of the a 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" (won 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 theatres 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 show, "Lou Grant" with Ed Asner for which she won four Emmys. Her last accolade was her role as Livia Soprano in HBO's "The Sopranos" for which she won a Golden Globe.
Attended Carnegie Tech. Died on the day before what would have been her 72nd birthday. Her television career reads like a history of television text book: her first credit was co-starring in the groundbreaking classic Marty 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 and she ended her career on the impressive HBO series, The Sopranos. Was nominated for Broadway's 1994 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for a revival of "Black Comedy." Appeared with both godfathers: Al Pacino in Me, Natilie (1969) and James Gandolfini in "The Sopranos" (1999).