Exclusive Interview: Stacy Haiduk with Superman Homepage

"I Spent an Afternoon - and Early Evening - With Lana Lang"
By Barry Freiman
Interview Questions by Barry Freiman and Sam J. Rizzo

Lois Lane may have spent a night with Superman and admittedly gotten a terrific story out of it, but Ms. Lane's not the only reporter to get face-time with one of Smallville, Kansas's two most famous denizens. On Wednesday, August 18, 2010, I spent the afternoon at The Art Institute of Chicago with the actress who played the girl destined to go down in history as almost ending up with Superman, if it weren't for that pesky Lois Lane. Lana Lang, the red-headed girl next door to the Boy of Steel, in almost every version of continuity always a bridesmaid and never a bride. A reunion with Lana Lang, now that's a terrific story.

From 1988 to 1992, Stacy Haiduk, 42, played Lana for four seasons and 100 episodes of "Superboy: The TV Series" (aka "The Adventures of Superboy"). Haiduk has everything someone who used to grab the Boy of Steel's attention should have - she's gorgeous, funny, talented, smart, sensitive, and, as hinted by the red hair, a bit quirky. Wig and no wig, she was Ron Weasley before Ron Weasley - or perhaps with just enough Hermione to counteract the weirds.

As the only original cast member to remain with the show for its entire run, audiences saw Lana's complete arc from college co-ed to investigator. That's why, to compare Haiduk's Lana to the Lanas played since by actress Kristin Kreuk, who played Lana Lang on "Smallville", and before by Annette O'Toole, who played a single Mom Lana in "Superman III", it's much easier to see not only what attracted Superboy to her but why audiences never felt sorry for Haiduk's Lana. It was always pretty clear in Haiduk's performance that this Lana Lang would survive, even thrive, sans Boy of Steel.

Read the Complete Interview Here