She still knows best

Monroe,she said,would sit in the class led by the legendary Lee Strasberg in a coat,with her collar up and a scarf over her head. She would get up and do a scene and she was wonderful. She was a scared little bird.

Roberts made her Broadway debut at age 24 in a small role in a 1955 revival of William Saroyans The Time of Your Life,which closed after 15 performances. Later that year,Roberts had understudied star Shirley Booth in the comedy hit The Desk Set. Roberts was more than 30 years younger than Booth. She was sad, Roberts said of Booth. She was sad because she never had any women friends. The guys would always take her out for a drink and take her home. She never knew her father. He showed up one day at the box office and she wouldnt let him in.

The 78-year-old Roberts,whomuch like the wickedly funny Marie Baronefrequently peppers her conversation with honey and dear,hasnt been resting on her laurels since Raymond left the airwaves four years ago after a spectacularly successful nine-year run on CBS during which she won four Emmy Awards. Whether its TV,stage or movies,Roberts is first and foremost a working actressand a very busy one at that.

She recently did good friend Terrence McNallys latest play,Unusual Acts of Devotion,at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. And she has three feature films coming out,including the family-friendly comedy Aliens in the Attic,which opened in the US last week. In it,Roberts plays a slightly dotty grandmother who has been injected with a mind-control device by a group of tiny aliens bent on taking over the world. When her grandkids get the controls for her device,they turn her into a Ninja Nana who wreaks havoc on a young man Robert Hoffman controlled by the aliens.

I did it because of my grandsons, said Roberts. One turned 16 last night and the other is 17 and a half. I didnt know what to do with the character,so I asked them. They said,You got to do it,Nana.

She and Hoffman went through lengthy kung fu training,because we would have hurt each other very badly,because we went so fast. But she didnt do any of the fancy wirework. I wanted to be the crazy woman that I am, Roberts said,laughing. But they thought the wires wouldnt hold me!

Roberts is doubtful therell be a Raymond TV reunion,however,because of the death in 2006 of Peter Boyle,who played Maries grouchy husband,Frank.

He told me he had cancer of the bones three years before he died, she said. He said,Should I tell them? I said,No. They will treat you like a dying man and you dont need that. You need for them to write for you. We had such fun together.