Dancer, Choreographer, and Director who won five Tony Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story, his film directing debut.
He began dancing after dropping out of New York University, where he was studying chemistry, due to financial difficulties.
He won Tony Awards for choreographing High Button Shoes, West Side Shoes, and for directing Fiddler on the Roof and Jerome Robbins' Broadway. He was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs.
He was born in New York, New York. He was bisexual and at one point was in a relationship with actor
He directed the musical film West Side Story, which starred Natalie Wood.
