 Fernando Di Leo was born on 11 January 1932 in San Ferdinando di Puglia.After briefly working in a Rome's film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, di Leo made his debut as a director as part of the omnibus comedy "Gli eroi di ieri, oggi, domani" with his episode titled "Un posto in paradiso" ().Following this Di Leo wrote several scripts for Westerns, often uncredited.