Roberto De Leonardis

Roberto De Leonardis (4 February 1913 – 21 September 1984) was an Italian film script translator, film dialogue writer and film lyricist, best known for his long-lasting cooperation with the Walt Disney Company, being basically a monopolist in writing scripts for dubbing Disney's films into Italian, from the late 1940s to his death.

He was known as a meticulous translator, faithfully adapting the English-language peculiarities to the Italian audience.

Biography He was born in Naples to a family of an Italian Navy admiral. He followed his father's career and graduated as an officer from the Military Academy in Livorno, Tuscany. During World War II he was commanding officer of an Italian naval ship. In 1943, after Italy surrendered to the Allies, his ship was captured by the Japanese, and he was detained as a POW until the Americans freed him in 1945. features a cameo: the name of the captain of the ship (Italian: comandante della nave) is Roberto de Leonardis, a hint to the nickname of the real de Leonardis, "Comandante", and his former naval occupation.