After parting company with Warner Bros. in 1950, Smith began freelancing, but was reduced to supporting roles late in the decade. She did, however, enjoy several meaty parts in which her intelligence and talent for playing disarming schemers and beguiling opportunists came to the fore. She made a vivid impression in Dick Powell's hair-trigger directorial debut, "Split Second" (1953) and gave one of her finest performances in Joseph Losey's British-produced "The Sleeping Tiger" (1954).
Happily married to actor Craig Stevens since 1944, Smith all but retired by 1960, but in 1971 reemerged on the Broadway stage, winning a Tony and a New York Drama Critics award for her vibrant performance in the Stephen Sondheim musical, "Follies." Further stage work included "Summer Brave" (1975), "Sunset" (1977), and a Tony-nominated turn in the short-lived Broadway musical "Platinum" (1978). The discussion about Smith in Rita Mae Brown's autobiographical "Rubyfruit Jungle", meanwhile, helped insure her minor cult status. Smith also worked regularly on TV and returned to the big screen occasionally, as in her last performance in a small but dignified role as a society matron in "The Age of Innocence" (1993).