What filmmaker won the Oscar for Best Director for the first and only major motion picture he would ever direct?

Jerome Robbins (1918 - 1998) shared the Best Director Oscar with Robert Wise for the film version of West Side Story (1961). Robbins was only the second director to win the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Director for a film debut (after Delbert Mann for Marty). The West Side Story by Robbins itself became a revered cinematic experience; it won ten Academy Awards in all in the spring of 1962.

Concerning the overall professional career of Jerome Robbins, he is today considered one of the 20th century's most popular ballet and Broadway musical choreographers. He is known for providing such musical gems like Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, West Side Story, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, Funny Girl, and Gypsy. Later in his life, he focused on creating ballets for the stage. He died in July 1998 at the age of 79.