After the success of Baby Doll, Baker was subsequently offered parts in The Brothers Karamazov (1958), Too Much, Too Soon (1958), and The Devil's Disciple (1959).
She refused to make Too Much Too Soon, so Warner Bros. put her on suspension, which prevented her from starring in The Brothers Karamazov (1958) at MGM.
Baker was also chosen by MGM for the lead in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and by Twentieth Century Fox for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), but her contract with Warner Bros. again prevented her from accepting the roles.
Tensions between Baker and the studio escalated further when she went against their wishes by appearing in Arms and the Man on stage.
Baker commented on the effect of the system on her career, saying: "I came in at the end of the big studio system.
I still had a slave contract and they were willing to put you in almost anything they had."

After her suspension with Warner Bros. was lifted, Baker appeared in William Wyler's Western epic The Big Country (1958).
The film was well received by critics, though the shoot was described as "problematic": Baker was four months pregnant at the time and had to wear restraining garments, and director Wyler reportedly had her on the verge of tears after forcing her to repeat the same take over 60 times, only to use the first one.
She followed The Big Country with lead roles in two romances, portraying a nun in The Miracle (1959) co-starring Roger Moore, and in But Not for Me (1959), a comedy with Clark Gable.
The New York Times praised Baker's performance in But Not for Me, saying: "Miss Baker, being a young lady who not only has looks but also can act, makes you understand why Mr. Gable would like to cheat a little bit on Father Time."
She disliked The Miracle so much that she bought out her contract with Warner Bros., putting her in considerable debt.
But Not for Me was made at Paramount.

Baker went on to make the experimental film Something Wild (1961), directed by her then-husband Jack Garfein.
In this independent production, she plays a young college student from the Bronx who is raped one night in St. James Park, and later held captive by a Manhattan mechanic (Ralph Meeker) who witnessed her subsequent suicide attempt.
In preparation for her role, Baker lived alone in a boarding house in New York's Lower East Side, and gained employment as a department-store salesgirl; her method approach to the role was profiled in Life in 1960.
Critical reaction to the film was largely negative,  though Film Quarterly cited it as "the most interesting American film of its quarter", and the most underrated film of 1961.
However, its controversial depiction of rape led to critical backlash and public criticism, and the film has been credited by historians as nearly halting Baker's career.
The same year, she portrayed Gwen Harold in Bridge to the Sun (1961), a production by MGM based on the 1957 best-selling autobiography of a Tennessee-born woman who married a Japanese diplomat (portrayed by James Shigeta) and became one of the few Americans to live in Japan during World War II.
While only a modest success at the box office, the film was well received by critics and was America's entry at the Venice International Film Festival.

After this, Baker appeared in the independent British-German film Station Six-Sahara (1962) as a woman who provokes tensions at an oil station in the Sahara Desert, as well as the blockbuster Western epic How the West Was Won (1962), opposite Debbie Reynolds and former co-stars Gregory Peck and Karl Malden.
In addition to film acting, Baker also found time to appear again on Broadway, starring in the 1962 production of Garson Kanin's Come on Strong in the fall of that year.
In 1963, Baker relocated permanently with then-husband Jack Garfein and their two children to Los Angeles, where she based herself for the next several years.
She traveled to Kenya to film Mister Moses (1965), where publicized rumors spread that she and co-star Robert Mitchum were having an affair, which they both vehemently denied.
Another story, now considered apocryphal, had
After the success of Baby Doll, Baker was subsequently offered parts in The Brothers Karamazov (1958), Too Much, Too Soon (1958), and The Devil's Disciple (1959). She refused to make Too Much Too Soon, so Warner Bros. put her on suspension, which prevented her from starring in The Brothers Karamazov (1958) at MGM. Baker was also chosen by MGM for the lead in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and by Twentieth Century Fox for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), but her contract with Warner Bros. again prevented her from accepting the roles. Tensions between Baker and the studio escalated further when she went against their wishes by appearing in Arms and the Man on stage. Baker commented on the effect of the system on her career, saying: "I came in at the end of the big studio system. I still had a slave contract and they were willing to put you in almost anything they had."
After her suspension with Warner Bros. was lifted, Baker appeared in William Wyler's Western epic The Big Country (1958). The film was well received by critics, though the shoot was described as "problematic": Baker was four months pregnant at the time and had to wear restraining garments, and director Wyler reportedly had her on the verge of tears after forcing her to repeat the same take over 60 times, only to use the first one. She followed The Big Country with lead roles in two romances, portraying a nun in The Miracle (1959) co-starring Roger Moore, and in But Not for Me (1959), a comedy with Clark Gable. The New York Times praised Baker's performance in But Not for Me, saying: "Miss Baker, being a young lady who not only has looks but also can act, makes you understand why Mr. Gable would like to cheat a little bit on Father Time." She disliked The Miracle so much that she bought out her contract with Warner Bros., putting her in considerable debt. But Not for Me was made at Paramount.
Baker went on to make the experimental film Something Wild (1961), directed by her then-husband Jack Garfein. In this independent production, she plays a young college student from the Bronx who is raped one night in St. James Park, and later held captive by a Manhattan mechanic (Ralph Meeker) who witnessed her subsequent suicide attempt. In preparation for her role, Baker lived alone in a boarding house in New York's Lower East Side, and gained employment as a department-store salesgirl; her method approach to the role was profiled in Life in 1960. Critical reaction to the film was largely negative,  though Film Quarterly cited it as "the most interesting American film of its quarter", and the most underrated film of 1961. However, its controversial depiction of rape led to critical backlash and public criticism, and the film has been credited by historians as nearly halting Baker's career. The same year, she portrayed Gwen Harold in Bridge to the Sun (1961), a production by MGM based on the 1957 best-selling autobiography of a Tennessee-born woman who married a Japanese diplomat (portrayed by James Shigeta) and became one of the few Americans to live in Japan during World War II. While only a modest success at the box office, the film was well received by critics and was America's entry at the Venice International Film Festival.
After this, Baker appeared in the independent British-German film Station Six-Sahara (1962) as a woman who provokes tensions at an oil station in the Sahara Desert, as well as the blockbuster Western epic How the West Was Won (1962), opposite Debbie Reynolds and former co-stars Gregory Peck and Karl Malden. In addition to film acting, Baker also found time to appear again on Broadway, starring in the 1962 production of Garson Kanin's Come on Strong in the fall of that year. In 1963, Baker relocated permanently with then-husband Jack Garfein and their two children to Los Angeles, where she based herself for the next several years. She traveled to Kenya to film Mister Moses (1965), where publicized rumors spread that she and co-star Robert Mitchum were having an affair, which they both vehemently denied. Another story, now considered apocryphal, had 
Carroll Baker