Click photo for larger image. Listen In Hear excerpts from Patricia Sheridan's interview with Eric Roberts. To download the file to your computer, right click on the above link and select "Save Target As ..." After the file has finished downloading, double-click on the file to listen to the audio.

The actor had a reputation for wild times and some womanizing, but things changed after a serious car accident in 1981. He spent three days in a coma. He's now happily married to Eliza, and he has a daughter, Emma, also an actor, from a previous marriage. Roberts, now 51, plays the mayor of Los Angeles in "Pandemic," a Hallmark Channel original movie about the bird flu virus, airing 8 p.m. Saturday.

Q: After making "Pandemic" did you become a little Howard Hughes-ish about germs?

A: Well, I'll be honest with you. I was a little Howard Hughes-ish before that, because the world is a filthy place, doll.

Q: Since acting was basically the family business, did you feel you couldn't do anything else?

A: It never occurred to me, really, because I started acting as speech therapy for a terrible stutter. We found out when I learned lines, I could speak. So it was real freedom for me. It started out as therapy, and I got good at it. Then, I got very good at it, and by the time I was a preteen I had my Academy Award acceptance speech ready.

Q: Are you satisfied with the path your career has taken?

A: I don't think anybody is ever satisfied unless they're Robert Redford -- maybe. I have been everything possible. I have been up and down and everything in between and honestly have had a great time with every facet of my life. I really have. I have been very fortunate.

Q: What do you think it takes to propel someone from actor to superstar? Is it just luck and timing?

A: A lot of that is involved, but after you are in the right place at the right time, you have to live up to it. So it is both substance, as well as timing.

Q: Did you cultivate the bad-boy image in your early career or was it who you really were?

A: You know, it's kind of funny. I played that kind of part in "King of the Gypsies" [1978] and then everybody decided that I was that basically. Even Robert Redford. When I asked if I could come read for "Ordinary People," he said no, because I was a street kid. So everybody thought that's what I was, and it just kind of follows you around until you undo it. I tried to undo it by playing character parts [in] "Star 80" [1983] and "The Pope of Greenwich Village" [1984]. Then everybody decided I was insane. I got typecast -- "if you want the crazy guy, call Eric." All I ever really wanted was, "if you want anybody to play anything, call that Eric guy." But unfortunately, or fortunately, (I have to be honest I've had a good time) playing bad guys. You get to wear the best clothes, and you get the wildest-looking girl, and you always get a good death scene.

Q: In a way you were almost too good?

A: [Laughs.] I wish. I don't agree with you. I think it's just easier to take things at face value. He's playing bad guys, he's a bad guy. He's playing good guys, he's a good guy. It's all very over simplistic, I think, but it's what we have to learn to live with.

Q: Was the car accident the turning point for you? Did you have a near-death experience?

A: I did have a near-death experience, and it was absolutely frightening. The recovery was long and very hard and very depressing. I thought I wouldn't get my short-term memory back or my physicality back. It slowly all came back, but it took a long time, but I got through it.

Q: You have been very diligent about staying in shape.

A: I made a mistake in my very first movie -- I was very skinny, about 130 pounds -- I took my shirt off. After that they decided my body was good enough to always take my shirt off. Every movie, it was, "By the way, pop your shirt off for this scene, would you?" I stay in shape so I don't get caught looking bad. It all became a part of the job.

Q: Are you and Julia close?

A: We're brother and sister, and we deal with each other, and we like each other, and we disagree on almost everything. That's just how it goes. Everybody wants to turn it into a huge issue. It's honestly not. There are things about each other that aren't comfortable for the other person, but that's every relationship I know of except for my wife, whom I worship. Because we're famous, it's a big deal.

Q: Eric, how long have you been married?

A: It will be 15 years. I guess we've been together almost 17 years. She's my hero. She's all the things I want to be when I grow up.