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 The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, being basically a monopolist in writing scripts for

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

Disney's films into Italian, from the late 1940s to his death.Roberto de Leonardis
/ref>
/ref>Pierfranco Bianchetti
"In ricordo di Roberto De Leonardis, il dialoghista di fiducia di Walt Disney"
/ref> He was known as a meticulous translator, faithfully adapting the English-language peculiarities to the Italian audience. Irene Rosignoli
"TRADURRE SENZA TRADIRE: L’ARTE DI ROBERTO DE LEONARDIS NELL’ALICE DI DISNEY"
/ref>

Biography

He was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

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. In the beginning of his film career he was a lyricist under the pseudonym "Pertitas". In 1949 he founded a documentary short film production company Filmeco. In 1958 he closed Filmeco and founded the Royfilm company, which almost exclusively did dubbing of films into Italian. It dubbed not only for Disney, but also for other studios, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, and Universal.

Commemoration

In 1997 he was posthumously inducted into the

Disney Legends Disney Legends is a Hall of Fame award that is awarded by The Walt Disney Company to individuals who "

ave is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

made a significant impact on the Disney legacy." The honor was established in 1987, and was traditionally awarded annually during a spe ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

. The 1983

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

film ''

E la nave va ''And the Ship Sails On'' () is a 1983 Italian film directed and co-written by Federico Fellini. It depicts the events on board a luxury liner filled with the friends of a deceased opera singer who have gathered to mourn her. The film was selected ...

'', whose Italian-language dialogue was edited by de Leonardis,"And the Ship Sails On"
/ref> 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. A comprehensive biography of de Leonardis was published in 2017 by Nunziante Valoroso in the book ''Un comandante alla corte di Walt Disney. La carriera di Roberto de Leonardis leggenda del doppiaggio''.Nunziante Valoroso
''Un comandante alla corte di Walt Disney. La carriera di Roberto de Leonardis leggenda del doppiaggio''
2017,

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Leonardis, Roberto 1913 births 1984 deaths Film people from Naples Writers from Naples Italian documentary filmmakers Italian cinematographers Italian male screenwriters Italian male songwriters Italian lyricists Disney people 20th-century Italian male writers 20th-century Italian screenwriters 20th-century Italian translators 20th-century Italian songwriters