After she and her husband John Sanford refused to testify in 1951 before the House Un-American Activities Committee, she was blacklisted for nine years and unable to get work in Hollywood.

In California when their business failed, she found work at an El Centro local newspaper, The Imperial Valley Press.

That year she signed the first of a string of contracts with MGM, which made her one of the best paid screenwriters of Hollywood at $2500 per week.

She explained how she preferred to write scenarios for tough men: "I was weaned on stories about gunfighters and their doings, and I know all the lingo too.

Blacklisted in 1951 for refusing to answer the House Un-American Activities Committee,[4] Roberts had to wait nine years before working again in Hollywood.