Born in
Pasiano di Pordenone, Italy, Damiani studied at the
Accademia di Brera in
Milan, then made his début in 1947 with the documentary ''La banda d'Affari
. After a few years as a screenwriter, he directed his first feature film in 1960, Il rossetto''. Before his career as a big screenwriter, Damiani was first a comic cartoonist in association with the "Group of Venice". Focused on the comic
Asso di Picche (1945–49) the comic featured a masked vigilante who fights crime all over the globe and is in charge of the crime stopping organization, "Band of Panthers". A smaller publication to which he also contributed through illustration was
Mike Lazy (1946), producing two volumes in Albo Dinamite by Edizioni Il Carro in Milan. Then individually producing his own gangster comic,
Pat la Rocca (1946). Two books were published in the collection Collana Gialli Film, also by Edizioni Il Carro. A third comic was scheduled and advertised for release, but never materialised. Continuing his work in the comic industry, Damiani wrote scripts for the photo comic strip
Arizona Kid (1949) published in
Mondadori magazines such as
Avventuroso Film and
Bolero Film. His 1962 film, ''
Arturo's Island'', won the
Golden Shell at the
San Sebastián International Film Festival. The 1960s were Damiani's "golden decade"; he was praised by critics and his films were box office successes. In 1966, he directed
A Bullet for the General, one of the first political
spaghetti Westerns. In 1968, with
The Day of the Owl, he started a series of films in which social criticism, often related to the connections between politics and crime, was mixed with spectacular plots. His 1971 film
Confessions of a Police Captain won the Golden Prize at the
7th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1973 Damiani débuted as an actor, playing
Giovanni Amendola in
Florestano Vancini's
The Assassination of Matteotti. ==Death==