Carlo Simi

Who was Carlo Simi?

Carlo Simi was an Italian architect, production designer and costume designer, who worked frequently with Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci, giving their spaghetti westerns a unique look. Most famous for his costume and set designs for Once Upon a Time in the West Simi also built the town of 'El Paso' in the Almería desert for Leone's second Western, For a Few Dollars More. Built around a massive bank, with vistas of the Tabernas Desert visible between buildings, the set still exists, as a tourist attraction called "Mini Hollywood". Simi played the bank manager in that film: it was his only acting role.

Simi died in Rome in 2000. Some of his costumes and set designs were exhibited at the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West in Los Angeles in 2005.