Tony Todd, who played Earl Jenkins in the Smallville Season 1 episode “Jitters” has passed away. The actor, who is most famous for his role in the Candyman franchise, was only 69 years old. He passed November 6 at his home in Los Angeles; no cause of death has been revealed as of yet.

Smallville wasn’t Tony Todd’s only venture into the DC Universe. He lent his voice to such projects s Batman: The Brave and the Bold and even voiced Darkseid in multiple animated features. He also was the voice of the villainous Zoom in over a dozen episode of The CW’s Flash TV series.

He leaves behind a ton of work and a legion of fans who appreciated him. We are so sorry to read that he has died.

Creation Entertainment’s “Salute to Smallville” convention is happening this weekend in Parsnippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey (read more about it here), and KryptonSite’s Craig Byrne will be there and a part of it, joining a variety of guests from the series including Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, Michael Rosenbaum, John Glover, Laura Vandervoort, and Aaron Ashmore. In anticipation of the October 5-6 event, we were able to interview Erica – our first time talking since Smallville was on the air! – to find out about the convention experience, her return to playing Lois Lane in Crisis, the Smallville animated project, and more. Enjoy!

KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: I know you’ve done conventions before, but how does it feel to be doing the first completely dedicated to Smallville convention?

ERICA DURANCE: A little nerve wracking, and also fantastic. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to spending more time with the fans. Creation runs these really great events. They have a good schedule, and they have such good ideas of what we can do and how we can interact. I’m really looking forward to being able to be a part of it and see everybody.

What can fans look forward to seeing at this event?

I know that we will be doing panels. I know that the boys do their “Smallville Nights” which are super, super fun. I think the fans really enjoy when we’re at the table and we chit chat. A lot of us spend a lot of time talking to people there. And photo ops! I’m not sure what else they’re throwing at us, but I do know that there’s a lot more time spent with fans, which is why we’re doing it!

When you got to the call to play Lois Lane again in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, was that something you had ever expected to do, or did you just figure you were Alura already and that was it?

I just figured I was Alura, and that was that, and I was moving on to other things. Then I was working on a movie for a friend of mine, and I got a text partway through the show, and I just got so excited. I couldn’t believe it! I was really thrilled. I was very excited.

They wrote a really fun little scene for me, and it’s so easy to work with Welling. We have a really good repartee, and I felt like it was just as if we had seen each other the day before, and I hadn’t seen him for 10 years. It was great.

Would you have liked to have gotten to spend more time seeing what Lois was up to these days?

Oh, sure! I liked playing her. I felt very lucky to do it. II always know that the people that are behind all this, that write these different versions and these different scenes and these different shows, are so good, so I don’t really particularly worry about that part so much. I know I’ll be doing something fun and different, and every scene is unique. So, yeah, I would have been fine with doing a little more.

You’re reuniting with several of your castmates at this convention, but also you have an episode of Murder in a Small Town that you did with Kristin. Did you have any scenes together, ad did you know it was Kristin’s show when you booked it?

Oh, yeah. She called me! And we had quite a few things together, and it was great fun. You know, other than a couple of times we worked together on Smallville, we haven’t worked that much [together] professionally. We’ve been really good friends for years and done other things, but not work together.

I remember feeling like I was about 20 years old again. I started to look at her, and we’re in the circus, and I looked down, and we just both shriek. People don’t know that we’ve known each other for so long, right? It was so cool.

Fans have also loved it whenever you’ve shown up on Tom and Michael’s podcast. Might you be showing up on it more in the future?

I don’t know. It depends on schedule, and timing, and what they’re doing and what I’m doing, but it’s always nice to get back and chat about certain episodes and how we felt about doing different things.

Did your impression of Smallville change after you started doing conventions?

I would say not so much, because I came into that show knowing it was successful. I knew it was special. I was excited to be a part of it. I wasn’t so fully entrenched in it as Welling was in the sense that he was there all the time, and I had a little bit of that objective bird’s eye view of ‘hey, you know, I know what the fans are thinking. I know that I’m excited, because I know they’re gonna like it. And I would say I’m surprised at how long it’s been that we’re going back around and talking about it, but not negatively. It’s wonderful.

What do you think is the magic chemistry between Lois and Clark, whether it’s on Smallville or other projects? What makes them work so well?

I think they balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses, regardless of the incarnation you see. There are moments that Clark’s very, very strong, and he’s a hero, and he can do everything that he needs to do, and is able to help Lois, who’s this strong woman, but needs help. And then you’ll see the flip side of it, where it’s in her humanity that he feels a level of connection. I think it’s that balance between both sides of parts of themselves, and it just seems to work.

I know you had a memorable experience meeting Margot Kidder at a convention, but is there any other Lois Lane actor that you would love to meet someday?

I’d love to meet Teri Hatcher. I’ve never met her!

What other projects do you have coming up?

I did the show for Kristin [Murder in a Small Town], and then I have two two Christmas movies coming out on Hallmark. They’re a little bit of a departure for me, and I’m excited about them. In one I play a 1960s housewife, and in the next one that I’m currently shooting right now, I’m the Queen Mother of — it’s not a fantasy land, but it’s not a real land [either]. She’s taking care of her daughter and trying to get her on the right path. They’re really different roles for me, but I really enjoy them because they’re quite far away from the person that I really am. It actually felt quite good.

Would you like to do the animated project that Tom and Michael are trying to get off the ground?

Absolutely. I think it would be great. Especially if they have Al and Miles [Gough and Millar, the creators of Smallville] behind it, which they seem to be talking about… then you know that there’s going to be a level of consistency with the characters, and the dialogue, and all that kind of stuff.

Have your kids found out yet that you played Lois Lane?

They don’t quite know what that means yet. They don’t think it’s that cool. They think Superman is pretty cool, but I think I’m just so different in real life to what they see up there, that it’s really hard for them to gel that like in any way their mom played a character that was somewhat cool.

They just think I’m the biggest nerd, so they find it weird that Mommy would be considered cool.

There was one time when they didn’t think I was tough, so I was like “let me show you some things.” I just YouTubed a lot of my fights [as Lois], and they were like, “Mommy, you were angry!” And I was like, “don’t mess with me, is all I’m saying.” Now they call me Big Mama. “Don’t mess with Big Mama!”

What do you hope the fans get from this convention experience?

I hope their interactions are positive enough for them, and they’re able to say the things they had wanted to say for a really long time. I know a lot of people travel with family and friends. I just hope it’s a really fun, good, positive weekend for them.

Tickets to “Salute to Smallville” are still available! Get your photo opps, autographs, and event tickets HERE! Big thanks to Erica Durance for taking the time to talk to us.

A voice that is possibly familiar to KryptonSite readers visited the Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum Smallville podcast TalkVille today — and that would be the person writing this post, bringing you Smallville news since 2001… KryptonSite editor-in-chief and webmaster Craig Byrne!

It was a thrill and an honor to get to be a part of their episode devoted to Smallville’s Season 5 episode “Fanatic.” After years on the KryptonSite forums, it’s safe to say that I’ve known how fanatic folks can be (and they are loved for it!)

Huge thanks to Michael Rosenbaum, Tom Welling, Bryce, and Ryan for having me — you can find several links on where to watch their Smallville rewatch podcast at TalkvillePodcast.com or you can see the video embedded below!