The Superman Super Site recently had the opportunity to speak with 'The Adventures of Superboy' star Tracy Roberts who played Lex Luthor's girlfriend Darla on the hit show.

Tracy joined the show at the start of the second season when producers recast the roles of Superboy & Lex Luthor and decided to take the series in a new direction.

Tracy would continue to be a series regular over the course of many 'Superboy' episodes until the show's untimely cancellation in 1992.

During the telephone interview, Mrs. Roberts revealed what led her into acting and how she came to land the role that Superboy fans will always remember.

She also talks about the shocking discovery of her 'obitiuary' and what the future holds as she dives back into the acting field:

Super Site: Thank you so much Tracy for allowing me the opportunity to conduct this interview with you.
Tracy: Oh, thank you. It is my pleasure!

Super Site: Fans always remember you from your starring role on 'The Adventures of Superboy.' What was your acting experience prior to the series?
Tracy: I first got into acting in high school and was very interested in theater and came from a family that wasn't very well off and it was an escape for me.

The very first play i did was 'The Wizard of Oz' in tenth grade and was reluctant to audition since I was only a sophomore and parts went to higher classmen.

A senior talked me into going and audition for Dorothy which I won. I had a photographic memory and could memorize an entire script in a day and went in to audition and automatically got the part. That kicked it off (acting) for me and fell in love with it.

I was a rebel in high school, a tom boy and stayed to myself and theater was my voice, per say and allowed me to fit in with the people I wanted to.

I competed in competitions and did monologues and other plays and was offered a scholarship to UNC school of arts my sophomore year.

I didn't pursue it though and, being a bit of a rebel, I dropped out of high school in 11th grade and went to work as a receptionist for a modeling agency.

The guy I worked for asked me if I would be interested in doing a voiceover for a commercial which led to other voiceover work that we did for car commercials and what not.

That paid really, really well and I eventually signed with an agency and began doing print work and modeling. I didn't really care for the modeling because it was boring posing for a picture, take a picture and I'm pretty short... only 5' 3".

I was told that modeling was something I really shouldn't pursue and can't do it which I hate being told I can't do something because then I feel I have to do it to prove them wrong. [Laughs]

I continued to do print work and I lived in Tampa, FL at the time. I got my SAG card when I auditioned and got the part for a commercial for Adventure Island which is part of the Busch Gardens and the commercial ran for 10 years.

I continued to do other commercials which led to my first film which I did with William Petersen and Virginia Madsen called "Long Gone" which was a baseball film.

Super Site: How did you eventually land the memorable role of Darla on Superboy?
Tracy: Back in the 1980's, Universal Studios was a working studio and they shot alot of television shows like Swamp Thing, Super Force, Superboy and Nickelodeon shows as well.

I started auditioning for those shows and, my husband and I owned night clubs like the big Disco types from back in Michael Jackson days, we started doing advertisements for Star Search, Play Boy, and the Chippendale Dancers.

Ellen Jacoby who was the casting director for Superboy at the time came by the club one evening and asked to be a judge during the Chippendale Dancers competition and we were like, yeah... sure.

I didn't know who Ellen was at first but learned that, after the first year of the Superboy, they decided to let everybody go and were recasting with the exception for Stacey [Haiduk].

She had a great time at the club and a few days later my agent called me and said that they were casting for a one day player on Superboy for the role of a nurse.

I went to the audition and there were probably 150 girls who looked just like me in a room all dressed up in various nurse costumes.

I was just sitting there waiting for my turn and Ellen walked by and we said hi to one another and she asked "What are you doing here?" and I told her I was there to read for the part of the nurse role. She was like "No, no, no, no" and told me to come with her and, to this day, it's still all in who you know and being in the right place at the right time. [Laughs]

She handed me the script and said they are looking for the role of Darla who is going to be Lex Luthor's girlfriend. They weren't sure where the role was going to go and that it might just be a one time deal but she really wanted me to read for the part.

The script was like 60 pages long and Ellen told me to memorize what you can and I'm going to bring you in front of Ilya [Salkind] in about 30 minutes.

She asked if I was cool with that and I was like yeah, sure. I can do that. So, she took me in front of Ilya and I read for him and he was impressed that I was able to read off script and asked "how did you do that?" [Laughs] I told him it was just something that comes easy for me.

He looked at my resume and, at the time, I had only done print work and a couple of shows of Miami Vice for Michael Man and had a good rapport with him.

I told Ilya this and he asked if I had a reel of my work and I told him no but I had some videotapes of the commercial I had done. He asked if I could go home and change into something different since the character of Darla was a sexy character and if I had any trouble with the fact that she was a stripper.

I was like this is a kid's show right? [Laughs] He said "yeah, it's a kid's show" and I was thinking just how much can you do and get away with it. [Laughs]

So I told him I had no trouble with the character and went home and changed into a leather skirt and jacket. I came back and he was immediately like you don't even have to read anymore, that's exactly what I'm looking for. [Laughs] So I was like "okay" and he hired me on the spot.

Super Site: What was the experience like when you shot your first episode?
Tracy: Well, [Laughs] the first episode we shot was in an actual strip club which was different for me. I showed up on the set and they handed me this costume and I was like "wow, umm... no, no, no. I cannot wear that. Really? This is a kid's show." [Laughs]

So I called Ellen and told her you need to come down to the set because I have a little issue with the wardrobe. So she came down to the set and, the girls that worked there, were like "hey, come in the back room and you can pick out whatever you wanna wear and we'll teach you how to work the pole." I was like, whoa... okay. [Laughs]

So they gave me this quick lesson on how to dance on the stage and do the whole nine yards. It turned out really well and then I did the fight scene with Stacey and they taught me how to throw a fake punch and take a fall. That I loved because I had always wanted to do my own stunts and it was just too much fun.

Then I met Sherman [Howard] and, it was funny, because Sherman was a very big man. He was like 6' 5" and I was only 5' 3" and looked so small standing next to him which looked really ridiculous. So I spent most of my days standing on apple boxes in our scenes together. [Laughs] The crew would always be like "oh, we need another apple box for Mrs. Roberts!"

Once we did the first show they called me back and said we really like what you did and, Sherman really likes you, we'd like to sign you for the year which will be four or five more episodes. So I wound up signing for the year and it turned into four more years of doing the show.

It was the best show I've ever done in my life and was just so much fun. I found it amazing that it would take 2 weeks to shoot a twenty minute episode but that was because most of what we would shoot was on location. Very little was shot actually in studio.

It was a great group of people and, we would get the script, and Sherman & I would never stay on script. We would always go off script and the crew would be like "oh my, what are they doing?" [Laughs]

Super Site: So there was alot of ad-libbing?
Tracy: Yes, [Laughs] quite a bit of ad-libbing. My thing was I got to the point of where I always had to have the last line. No matter what Sherman said, whether it was written or not, I would always throw something else in there. The crew would always be like "just let her go." [Laughs]

Super Site: What was your favorite episode of the series?
Tracy: Definitely 'Darla Goes Ballistic.' It would actually tie with another favorite of mine, 'Know Thine Enemy'. The director of that episode, Bryan Spicer, was out of LA and he was just so talented. It was the first time they introduced holograms and they had the robots and it was just shot so well.

I really loved the storyline because they gave you a look at who Lex Luthor really was as a person. How he became who he is and his past relationship with his family & sister. It was a really dark episode but it was such a good episode too.

Now, 'Darla Goes Ballistic', Sherman wrote that for me. He came to me one day with a script and said I wrote this for you because I really don't think they see the potential in you that I see and I want them to see what you're really made of.

I was just so touched by that and he brought it to the producers and writer, Stan Berkowitz. They looked it over with Stan and loved it and I just give him so much credit for having the faith to give me my own episode. That definitely holds a special place in my heart.

Super Site: What was it like working with Gerard Christopher?
Tracy: Oh, Gerard... [Laughs] I love Gerard. He was fun. [Laughs] He was definitely the type of guy who did one line at a time though.

When we filmed 'Darla Goes Ballistic', his cape kept getting stuck in a door and it was just hours of shooting him coming through the door. [Laughs] If you watch the episode, when he makes his entrance and first meets Darla, his cape got stuck in that door every time.

He was a great guy and we got along well. I got along well with everybody and loved everyone so much. They were all just a really good, tight-knit group.

Stacey [Haiduk], I loved her. She was a great friend to me. She had been in the business longer than me and if I ever had any problems with my lines or anything, she would always help and give me really good advice.

Super Site: Was there a big shock when the show was suddenly canceled?
Tracy: Oh yes. Everyone was pretty upset about that because we were all excited about going into syndication. We still don't fully understand what happened because it was a very popular show and the numbers were great.

We were all taken aback by the cancellation but then we heard they were going to be doing 'Lois & Clark' and of course we all hoped that they would consider using us. But Warner Bros. were like nope, we're not going to use anyone from that show.

The rumors I heard were that the show was canceled because of the Christopher Columbus film that the Salkinds did and that it lost so much money, Warner Bros. had to bail them out. Then the Salkinds made a deal with Warner Bros. to do 'Lois & Clark' but I don't know if that's true though.

Super Site: Do you still keep in touch with anyone from the show?
Tracy: Unfortunately no. When the show ended everybody just kind of went their own separate ways.

I ended up doing one film after the show but it never went anywhere. It was called "The Last Spring" and I spent two months shooting that.

After Superboy, I became pregnant with my daughter and my husband, who was in the hair styling business, got an offer to open up a couple of salons in Maryland.

Since my contract was up with Superboy, he was like "do you want to go" and I was like, sure, let's go and I really just wanted to concentrate on raising my girls and I never really did much acting after that.

Super Site: What did you think when DC Comics added Darla to the comic books?
Tracy: That was a surprise. [Laughs] They called me and said we'd love to meet with you and take you to lunch. They loved the Darla character and how popular she had become with fans on the show and that they wanted to introduce her in the comics. I was like "Oh yeah! That would be great!" [Laughs]

That was a high point to actually meet with them and become a character in a comic book. It was great.

Super Site: What are your thoughts on the current popular Superman themed show 'Smallville?'
Tracy: I haven't seen many episodes of the show but I was fascinated by the fact that they made Lex a good guy to begin with. That's when I started watching and I was like that's really different to see Lex being nice. [Laughs]

Super Site: Do you have a desire to return to acting?
Tracy: Well, my husband and I now own several hair salons here in Maryland and I basically help run those. My youngest daughter is 17 and the drummer in a band and I help schlep them around as a roadie. She will be heading off to college next year and she told me I should get back into acting which I've been thinking about doing.

I really would love to do it because it's something that, it's the one thing that I truly am passionate about but it's not easy these days to just jump right back into it. Things are so much different now and the means of auditioning are all internet.

Everything is like check your email or check this and that. I'm just like wow, I really need to get up to date with the computer. When you go and audition they have barcodes and you have to have a barcode now on your audition papers.

I did recently get an agent and right now I'm doing things locally until my daughter goes off to college. I may wind up going back out to LA but, right now I just don't know.

Super Site: How would you say the industry has changed from back when you did the Superboy series?
Tracy: I was used to being a big fish in a small pond back in the 1980's because I worked so much back then. I did Swamp Thing, Superboy, Super Force and alot of Nickelodeon and it got to the point where I didn't have to audition anymore; they would just call me and be like "okay, we've got a part for you if you want it." It's not like that anymore. [Laughs]

It's kind of like starting all over again. I haven't been on set in a long time but HBO is filming a pilot in town for a new Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy show called "Veep" where she's going to be the Vice President. My agent was like why don't you go down and hang out as an extra. Usually I wouldn't do something like that since it doesn't really pay anything but I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus. [Laughs]

I asked if I would be working with her directly and my agent said "yeah absolutely," so I told her to sign me up. It wound up being 11 hours but it was wonderful to be on a set again and I got to talk with her about her work on "New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Seinfeld" which I am a huge fan of both. She was very sweet and nice and talked with everyone.

Super Site: Are there any other roles you have recently auditioned for?
Tracy: I just did a photo shoot for the DC Lottery. I went to audition and had make-up on, my hair done and wearing jeans. They hand me these pictures and were like "these are the type of people and look we're looking for" and I looked at the pictures and it was these older women that are looking awful & down on their luck and like they just lost their best friend. [Laughs] I was like "oh, wow... okay? I didn't get the memo. Give me 5 minutes.".

So I took off some of the make-up and shuffled up my hair and did the photo shoot. They called me back and we're like "we loved you and want to shoot more photos" and I was like "yay... I think." [Laughs]

So now there's going to be pictures of me on DC area buses and subways looking like "that". I'm still not sure how I feel about that but it's a job. [Laughs]

I also auditioned for a military educational film. It was for the part of a mother whose daughter is going off to Afghanistan and the daughter is telling her that she is going to be deployed in two months and she has a young child. The mother realizes, because she is an Army mom, the drill and what's coming and it was a very emotional scene.

I walked into the audition and there were six or seven other women my age but they almost seemed to me like they were an ensemble group because they were all like this is the sixth or seventh film we've done for them. I almost walked out because I figured they're going to stick with who they know but I decided I'd hang in there because I really like the scene and I was prepared and had it memorized.

It felt good because I walked in and the man who was working the camera turned it off after the scene and was like, "Wow, I don't even know how to re-direct you on that because you just nailed it. That was really good!" So that made me feel real good and then they hired me so I'll be shooting that in two weeks.

Super Site: It kind of sounds like a Lifetime movie.
Tracy: Yeah, I wish it were a Lifetime movie! [Laughs] That would be so much better.

Alot of the other auditions my agent has sent me on has been for like infomercials and industrial which I generally don't like but I've got to start somewhere.

I've found that I'm either too young or too old and I'm like stuck in the middle. So I've kind of changed my thinking on what things I should submit for. I really, really love drama and I just really love the actual art of acting.

Super Site: I came across an interesting tidbit on IMDB where, for some odd reason, they have you listed as "deceased?"
Tracy: Yes! They have me listed as dead there and I cannot rectify that yet. I've contacted them and told them that was an older actress, same name but you guys have me mixed up with her and you need to change that because I'm trying to get back into acting.

People who I audition for may try to pull me up and see that and are like well, are you really who you say you are because they say you're dead.

Super Site: I can only imagine that it causes a bit of a problem.
Tracy: Yeah. It initially came about on another website and I found out about it when my daughter told some of her friends to Google Superboy and Darla and they could check out some information clips from the show that I had done.

Well, one of them calls my daughter back and is like "did your mom fake her death?" Of course my daughter is like "What?! Um... no!" [Laughs] Her friend tells her "There is an obituary written for her; a nice one but she's dead." [Laughs]

So she called me and is like "Mom, you died!" I'm like what are you talking about and she says, "Yeah, there is a webpage that has written an obituary that talks about how you died shortly after the show ended and how you died too young."

She asked if I wanted her to e-mail the website and tell them I hadn't died and I was like yeah, that might be a good idea! [Laughs] So she called and was like this is Tracy Roberts' daughter and I just wanted to let you know that she's definitely alive and well. She's not dead. [Laughs]

Super Site: I understand that you will be attending this year's Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL.
Tracy: Yes I will! I just received the invitation a few weeks ago and I am very excited about going and having the opportunity to meet all the fans of the show.

Super Site: Speaking from past experience, I guarantee you will have a blast!

Thank you again for taking the time for this interview and I guess we will see you this June in Metropolis.
Tracy: Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the series and I look forward to seeing you and everyone else in a few months!