'Sopranos' Star Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/03/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

"The Sopranos" will never be the same. Actress Nancy Marchand, who played the treacherous Livia Soprano, mother of Mafia kingpin Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) on the hit HBO show, died of lung cancer at her home in Connecticut Sunday night. Marchand had played many of her scenes last season wearing an oxygen tube. On Monday she would have turned 72. Marchand's other famous TV role was that of the aristocratic publisher, Mrs. Pynchon, on "Lou Grant" (1977-82), for which she won four Emmys. Before coming to television, she had an impressive resume filled with Broadway and off-Broadway credits. Her many movie roles included playing Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear's imperious mother in the 1995 remake of "Sabrina."