My chat w/Loretta Devine...

Loretta Devine is indeed, divine.

As I chatted up this great star of stage and screen at last week's NAACP Image Awards, there was a lot of laughter coming from the woman who was one of Broadway's original "Dreamgirls" and who now appears on the new ABC show "Eli Stone."

"The scripts are wonderful," she said. "It reminds me a little bit of David E. Kelley when I did "Boston Public" and how his scripts were so unpredictable. I was dating a midget at one point! (laughs) So you just never know what's going to happen and that's what makes it really exciting to go to work every day."

So far, she hasn't dated any midgets on "Stone" but she has been utterly charmed by Jonny Lee Miller who plays the title role.

"He's so charming, he's got this thing about him that you just fall in love with," she gushed. "On set, he's kinda quiet, just real laid back. But you just fall in love with him."

Loretta works so often, I figured she just has this big pile of scripts waiting for her at home.

"Oh no! I still have to audition, I audition for almost everything," she said. "I auditioned for 'Eli Stone' and lucked out and got it. When the new people come in, they've seen your work but they have to see if they can work with you. Sometimes I'm lucky, sometimes I'm not. I go see all the stuff I didn't get and pretend and say, 'Oooh! I'm so glad I didn't get that!' (laughs) But in your heart you're thinking, 'I could have made that movie great! I could have nailed that part!'"

One part she did land was a role in the acclaimed indie flick "Dirty Laundry" as a mother who has raised her estranged son's child. The film screened at Outfest a few summer back and recently had a brief run in theaters late last year. It has just been released on DVD.

"I always do supporting roles and that's as close to a lead as I've ever gotten," she said. "I'm really proud of it. It's like the little movie that could. It's such a good movie and people are really enjoying it."

Although Loretta won three NAACP Image Awards for "Boston Public" and two more for her roles in "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife," she wasn't nominated for "Laundry" despite it being one of her
best roles.

She explained why: "I think it's because I played such a raunchy drunk and I passed out at the end. You can't get an Image Award for that behavior.(laughs)"

"Laundry" was not a big box office hit but Loretta did appear in "This Christmas" in December which had an $18 million opening weekend, opening in second place. She played a mother in both "Laundry" and "Christmas."

"They were very different kinds of mothers," she said. "In 'Dirty Laundry' I play a drink - a functional drunk - keeping her family together who has a son who she is very angry with. It was a dramedy - part comedy and part drama. And 'This Christmas" had a family that was very polished, very upper-class. I had six kids and they were the most beautiful kids you've ever seen!"

The biggest hit Loretta has appeared in recently was "Dreamgirls." Even though too much time had passed since the Broadway show for the 58-year-old to be considered for one of the leads, she had a small role that included a beautiful solo at a memorial service.

"I got a chance to meet Beyonce and later I went to one of her concerts," Loretta said. "I met Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose and we've been in touch since that. It was a great experience because of that because these are the girls coming up. They're all so brilliant and they're going to have these fabulous careers and I'll get to play all their mothers!"

Last year, Loretta reunited with her "Dreamgirls" co-stars from the Broadway show to sing at a fundraiser (she is pictured with Sheryl Lee Ralph and Jennifer Holliday).

Here are a few more choice bits from out conversation:

On all her mother roles: "That's just the age I am. When I was young I did 'Dreamgirls' and "Down in the Delta." I've been so fortunate, I've had a chance to work for 25 years straight. As you get older and if you keep going, you will play everybody's mother nif you're lucky. Me and Jenifer Lewis!"

On being recognized in public: "Everyone thinks I'm Gloria from "Waiting to Exhale" and every once in awhile, I'll get someone who saw "Woman Thou Art Loosed" who'll say, 'Oh, you were so mean! You was a mean mother! But we love you anyway!' And they want to know if you're really like your characters and I'm nothing like my characters. I think my characters are a lot of times a lot bolder. Like in "Eli Stone," I play Eli's secretary and she has much more chutzpah than I do as a person. I would never talk back to my boss!"

On who she is supporting for president: "Of course I voted for [Barack] Obama because he looks like change and I hope he is what he looks like. Everything that I've read about him makes it seem like he can make a big difference."