In 1945, she starred as Lothel in the movie serial The Jungle Queen. The serial was not a success and she went back to bit parts for another few years. In 1949 she signed a contract with Warner Brothers and then starred in nine movies over a two year period. Also in 1949 she was nominated for a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year for her role in Champion (1949).

Roman was a frequent player in film noir and was sometimes cast as a cynical and world-weary femme fatale. In one of these films - Tomorrow is Another Day (1950), Roman received top billing above the male lead, Steve Cochran, which was rare back then. This happened due to the fact that she had become very popular. During her career she starred in movies opposite Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn and James Stewart.

In 1953, she signed a contract with Universal International which lasted until 1957. By the time this contract had run out, her popularity had waned. She began to work less in movies during the 1960s and 1970s. All in all, Roman appeared in more than 30 feature films. Her movies included Stage Door Canteen (1943), Since You Went Away (1944), Belle Starr's Daughter (1948), Colt .45 (1950), Dallas (1950), Three Secrets (1950), Lightning Strikes Twice (1951), Strangers on a Train (1951), The Far Country (1956), and Five Steps to Danger (1961). Her last movie was Echoes (1983).

From about the late 1950s, Roman began to work more in television, appearing in TV shows and made-for-TV movies. TV shows she guest starred on included The Jane Wyman Show, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, The Mod Squad, Mission Impossible, Police Woman, Fantasy Island and Murder, She Wrote. She also appeared as semi-regular in Knots Landing as Sylvia Lean.

In 1959, Roman appeared in the season one Bonanza episode The Magnificent Adah. She played the role of legendary actress Adah Isaacs Menken, whom the Cartwrights meet in Virginia City.

On the personal side, Roman at one time dated Ronald Reagan and was married three times. Her first husband was Mortimer Hall, whom she married in 1950. They had a son, Richard, who was born in 1953. Following her divorce from Hall in 1955, Roman then married Budd Burton Moss in 1956. Moss and Roman remained married until 1964, when this marriage also ended in divorce. Roman's third marriage occurred in 1974, when she married Bill Wilson. This marriage lasted until her death in 1999.

In 1956, Roman and her son Richard were first class passengers aboard the T/N Andrea Doria sailing from Italy to the United States. As the ship neared Nantucket, Massachusetts, it collided with the MV Stockholm. During the evacuation of the ship, Roman was separated from her three-year old son when the lifeboat he was in pulled away. She was later reunited with her son on the rescue ship. Her son Richard was injured during the collision and Roman later found herself being the reluctant focal point of the media's attention as she waited in agony to see if her son would survived - which he did. In the end more than fifty people were killed in the tragedy - Roman and her son were among the 760 who survived.

Ruth Roman died of natural causes in her sleep on 9 September, 1999 in Laguna Beach, California.

Sources:
Internet Movie Database
Brian's Drive-In Theater
Yahoo! Movies
TV Tome
What A Character
The Golden Globes
Salon News
Noir City