bored with Hollywood, and abandoned his film career. He reportedly never acclimated to Hollywood, which he found to be "a false place". Although he was among the first group of actors to join the fledgling Screen Actors Guild in 1933, he returned to New York City, but he moved back to California three years later. Manners grew increasingly frustrated with his roles in Hollywood and with his film career in general, despite all its successes. Following his work on three films released in 1936—Hearts in Bondage, A Woman Rebels, and Lucky Fugitives—he left the studios and retired from film work. He did, however, continue to perform regularly on stage for another 17 years, appearing in various productions on tour, in summer stock, and on Broadway, including the ill-fated 1946 play Hidden Horizon. In 1953, Manners retired from acting entirely. Personal life and death Manners married only once. In New York City, on May 23, 1929, he wed Suzanne Bushnell, a native of Springfield, Ohio. A year later, according to the 1930 United States census, he and his 23-year-old wife were living together in Los Angeles in a $175-a-month rental property, along with Antonio Dumles, a 22-year-old Filipino who was listed as the couple's servant. David and Suzanne's marriage proved to be a brief one; they divorced in 1932. In 1940 he officially changed his name to David Joseph Manners (Manners being his mother's maiden name), a change that is verified by its citation in the 1940 United States census. That same census also documents that he had applied to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. It further identifies Manners as an "Author/Actor" and that he was then living in Victorville, California, residing alone in a home, part of a ranch, that he had purchased several years earlier. He became a published novelist in 1941 with Convenient Season; a second novel, Under Running Laughter, followed in 1943. (He used the name David J. Manners for his novels, both of which were published by E.P. Dutton.) Later, in 1948, he established a long-term partnership with playwright Frederic William "Bill" Mercer. Initially, they lived together at David's ranch but left Victorville in 1956 to move to another residence in Pacific Palisades. Manners and Mercer remained partners until Bill's death in 1978. Following his retirement from acting, Manners spent the remaining decades of his life pursuing his personal interests, including painting, writing,