Aldo Lado was born in Fiume, Italy (today Rijeka, Croatia) on 5 December 1934.

Lado came up through the film industry as an assistant director, notably to Bernardo Bertolucci on The Conformist (1970). After writing the story for the 1971 giallo The Designated Victim, he made his directorial debut later that year with Short Night of Glass Dolls. Lado took the job after two previous directors, Maurizio Lucidi and Antonio Margheriti, fell through. The film was a success, and he followed it with another giallo, Who Saw Her Die?.