Grant, who said she had no political interests or education,
was married to screenwriter Arnold Manoff, a member of the Communist Party. He (like other stage, TV and film figures at the time) was accused by the House
Un-American Activities Committee of being allied to the Soviet Union, and was blacklisted from gainful employment. [Manoff could only find work under a pseudonym.]
When her friend and fellow actor J. Edward Bromberg suffered
a fatal heart attack after facing the Committee, Grant spoke at a memorial
service held by Bromberg's Broadway colleagues.
"I said that I felt that he had his heart attack
because of the House Un-American Activities Committee," Grant recalled.
"And two days later, I was in an Actors Equity meeting, and the actor in
front of me said, 'I see you've made the list.'
And I said, 'What list?' 'Red
Channels.' My name was in it -- Lee
Grant with the words that I'd said at his memorial. And so from that day, for 12 years, I
couldn't work again in film or television."