Rinaldo Dami, who was also known under the anglicized version of his name, Roy d'Ami, was a versatile creator of comics and the head of one of Italy's most prestigious art agencies of the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Crimson del Grappa, Rinaldo Dami was taken prisoner by the British in North Africa in March 1943. He was sent to a camp in Algeria, and then to the island of Malta. Upon his return in Milan in 1947, Dami started working in the advertising and animation field.
He drew his first comics in 1948, when he found work at the publishing company Cremona Nuova. There, he illustrated series like 'Blek e Gionni', 'Dixy Scott' and 'Il Piccolo Sergente', in a style influenced by Milton Caniff. During the early 1950s, he drew a great many western comics for Audace, including 'Mani in Alto', 'Gordon Jim', 'Il Sergente York', 'Cherry Brandy', 'La Pattuglia dei Bufalli', 'Il Ritorno dei Tre Bill', the Bonelli scripted 'Rio Kid' and 'Pecos Bill', scripted by Guido Martina. Later on, he created several strips for Corriere dei Piccoli, such as the humorous 'Scuterino' and 'Indianetto', as well as several scenarios for other artists, such as Carlo Porciani ('Davy Crockett', 'Haywatha'), Leone Cimpellin ('Nerofumo'), Paolo Piffarerio ('Apollo il Pollo') and Ferdinando Tacconi ('Moby Dick'). Also, he created 'Piccolo Bisonte' in Corrierino.
In cooperation with his brother Pietro, he founded his own art agency in 1954. The Studio Creazioni d'Ami with its many artists provided artwork for national publications, as well as foreign publishers and agencies, such as the Fleetway (UK) and Lug (France). Although he was the head of a very productive art agency, d'Ami continued to produce comics himself. He worked for Fleetway's Jack & Jill Annual 1958, and scripted 'Little Scooty' (art by Lupatelli). He also drew for War Picture Library and Battle Picture Library.
In 1960 a rift appeared between the brothers Dami, and the amount of English assignments decreased, forcing some of the artists employed to seek work elsewhere. By the mid-1960s, d'Ami's interests turned from the military to natural history. In the late 60s, Carlo Porciani joined with Roy D'Ami in the production of more natural history books, while his brother Piero set up his own publishing company.
Among the artists that worked for the d'Ami agency are:
Sergio Asteriti, Enrico Bagnoli, Dino Battaglia, Giorgio Bellavitis, Aurelio Bevia, Franco Bignotti, Carlo Boscarato, Renzo Calegari, Antonio Canale, Leone Cimpellin, Vittorio Coliva, Mario Cubbino, Gino d'Antonio, Giorgio De Gaspari, Salvatore Deidda, Arturo Del Castillo, Aldo Di Gennaro, Giuseppe Festino, Antonio Lupatelli, Luigi Marchesi, Giuseppe Montanari, Erio Nicolò, Carlo Porciani, Nadir Quinto, Renzo Savi, Ferdinando Tacconi, Franco Tarantola, Sergio Tarquinio, Giovanni Ticci, Giorgio Trevisan, Sergio Tuis, Mario Uggeri, Gino Vercelli.