Film career
In 1947, he directed the short documentary La banda d'Affori, and was an art director and production designer in the film industry for a time. After a few years as a screenwriter, he directed his first feature film in 1960, Lipstick.
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. He was known to cult horror film fans for directing Amityville II: The Possession in 1982 for Dino De Laurentiis.
In 1984, he directed one of the most famous Italian television series, La piovra, a description of the contemporary Italian Mafia and its involvement in politics. His last feature film was Assassini dei giorni di festa, directed in 2002.
