in 1939 to Katherine Bard, an actress and the daughter of Ralph Austin Bard, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War II. Also in 1939, he acted in a short-lived Broadway production of They Walked Alone with Elsa Lanchester. This was Manulis' last acting performance. He later joked that his character died at the end of Act II, and a critic panned his performance and suggested that the production could be improved if Manulis' character were killed instead at the end of Act I. By 1940, Manulis was living on East 9th Street in Manhattan with his wife. Manulis was employed as a theater director, and his wife as a theater actress. In June 1940, he was hired as a regular director at the Bass Rocks Theatre in Gloucester. In early 1942, after the United States entered World War II, Manulis served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in London, England, censoring mail for war sensitive information. He met and became friends with Noël Coward while stationed in London during the war. After the war, Manulis became associated with the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. He was the managing director at Westport for the summers from 1946 through 1950. By 1950, he had developed a reputation as the "superb manager-director" of the Westport Playhouse. Manulis' stage productions in the post-war years include the following: In February 1946, Manulis directed The Duchess Misbehaves at the Adelphi Theatre. In September 1946, Manulis directed It's a Man's World at Westport. In October 1946, Manulis directed his wife in the lead role in Made in Heaven! at the Henry Miller Theatre. In January 1948, Manulis directed Shirley Booth in The Survivors at the Playhouse. During the summer of 1950, Manulis directed his wife in The Long Days in the Theatre Guild's experimental course at Westport. In November 1950, Manulis was the director of Pride's Crossing, a play starring Mildred Dunnock and co-starring his wife at Broadway's Biltmore Theatre. In January 1951, Manulis produced Springtime for Henry starring Edward Everett Horton and Manulis's wife at the winter stock season in the Bahamas. In January 1952, Manulis co-produced the winter stock season at the Bahama Playhouse at the British Colonial Hotel in Nassau. He directed two of the productions, including Goodbye Again starring Tom Ewell and Manulis's wife. Television producer In 1951, Manulis was hired by Charles Underwood