Parisian Guy Émile Marchand had a dual career as a musician and as an actor. The son of a scrap metal dealer, he studied at the Lycée Voltaire during daytime while playing his clarinet in the night clubs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Additionally, he wrote songs, was adept at playing jazz piano and had an affinity with tango. As a chansonnier, he became popular from the mid-sixties, resulting in several successful singles ("Destinée") and albums ("Chansons de ma jeunesse") which included collaborations with Claude Bolling and others.

Marchand began his military service as a reserve officer with the Airborne Troops Training Base (BETAP) in the Pyrenees and was then reassigned as a parachutist second lieutenant to Montigny-lès-Metz. During the Algerian conflict, he was stationed with the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment. His experience as a paratrooper qualified him as a technical advisor on the all-star World War II epic En uzun gün (1962). He also had a bit part in the film which ended up on the cutting room floor. Marchand was already 31 years old when he made his screen debut and has since appeared in numerous supporting roles, culminating in a 1982 Cesar Award for his role as a police inspector in Claude Miller's Korkunç şüphe (1981). He became even better known the following year as the hard-boiled private detective Nestor Burma, détective de choc (1982), a kind of French Philip Marlowe. He reprised his popular character in a TV series a decade later.

Very much on the sporty side of life, Marchand was involved in boxing, horse riding, polo and car racing. He latterly also published several novels, including 'Le Soleil des enfants perdus' (2011), which touched on his experiences in Algeria. Guy Marchand died on December 15 2023 at the age of 86 in Cavaillon, Vaucluse, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France.