Manulis was best known for his work in the 1950s producing the CBS Television programs Suspense, Studio One Summer Theatre, Climax!, The Best of Broadway and Playhouse 90.
His father, Abraham "Gus" Manulis, immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1897, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1911, and operated a drug store in Park Slope.
After receiving a favorable review from Lucius Beebe, Manulis continued to perform in all-male varsity stage productions.
"[4][5] Manulis graduated from Columbia in 1935 and began working as an assistant for Ben Boyer, the business manager for producer Max Gordon, at a salary of $25 a week.
[10] After the Casey program, Manulis was assigned to take over from Robert Stevens as the producer of Suspense, a weekly primetime half-hour anthology.
The show broadcast live every four weeks from CBS Television City in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles.
Manulis produced 18 episodes of the series, including adaptations of A Farewell to Arms and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Manulis is most remembered for his work as the producer of Playhouse 90, a weekly anthology series broadcast live on Thursday nights from CBS Television City in Los Angeles.
Ultimately, CBS relented and agreed to have Manulis produce every episode with Dominick Dunne and two others assisting him on production.
In a 1957 interview with The New York Times, Manulis said that he viewed his job on Playhouse 90 as a combination of "mother, wet nurse and psychiatrist.
Asked to pick the worst "clinker" in his run as producer of Playhouse 90, Manulis chose the season two premiere episode, The Death of Manolete, starring Jack Palance in ill-fitting bullfighter clothes and model Suzy Parker as the love interest.
Manulis stayed, and he discovered a proposal for a series that he developed as The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, starring Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver.
He joked that a dubbed version using the voice of a skilled French actor and Gardner's good looks were the perfect combination and proved to be a hit in France.
[28] A third series produced by Manulis at Fox was Five Fingers, an espionage program starring David Hedison and Luciana Paluzzi that aired on NBC from October 1959 to January 1960.
In December 1961, he began production of Days of Wine and Roses starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick and directed by Blake Edwards.
Manulis's film version was released in December 1962 and received Academy Award nominations for best actor, best actress, best art direction, best costume design, and best original song.
In 1977, Manulis was the executive producer of the television series James at 16, a coming-of-age drama starring Lance Kerwin that aired on NBC from 1977 to 1978.