RIP Carlo Leva

Farewell to Carlo Leva, the scenographer of Sergio Leone

Born in Bergamasco, in the Alessandria area, 90 years ago he had trained in Rome, working in over 150 films.

La Stampa

By Brunello Vescovi

April 4, 2020

Bergamasco. Farewell to Carlo Leva, the scenographer of Sergio Leone: he was born in Bergamasco, in the Alessandria area, 90 years ago and had trained in Rome, working in over 150 films and collaborating with a hundred directors, from Aldrich to Fellini, from Chabrol in Malle.

In Bergamasco, where he then returned, he lived with his wife Teresa in the marquis palace, where a small cinema museum was set up with exhibits that would have made collectors' gluttons: Claudia Cardinale's four-poster bed from “Once upon a time the West” and the thousands of sketches he designed. The most famous was undoubtedly the one for the cemetery of the final scene of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

Leva had known Sergio Leone in 1962 and then worked with him in five films: “Duck You Sucker”, “A Fistful of Dollars”, “For a Few Dollars More”, “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”. But woe to talk to him about spaghetti westerns: it seemed a reductive, derogatory term. A man of extraordinary energy, he had continued, even in old age, to propose projects: he dreamed of being able to use the Citadel of Alessandria as a film set, he designed the front door for the re-enactment of the siege of Canelli, he also acted as a German priest - in an ironic Alexandrian short film inspired by Frankenstein Junior and filmed by the Italian 20th Century Fox.

LEVA, Carlo

Born: 2/27/1930, Bergamasco, Piedmont, Italy

Died: 4/4/2020, Bergamasco, Piedmont, Italy

Carlo Leva’s westerns – assistant art director, set designer, set dresser, production designer, costume designer, himself:

A Fistful of Dollars” – 1964 [assistant art director]

For a Few Dollars More – 1965 [assistant art director]

In the Shadow of a Colt – 1965 [production designer]

The Big Gundown – 1966 [set decorator, assistant art director]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 [assistant art director]

Once Upon a Time in the West – 1968 [set decorator]

The Price of Power – 1969 [production designer]

A Bullet for a Stranger – 1971 [production designer, costume designer]

Duck You Sucker” – 1971 [production designer]

The Return of Hallelujah – 1972 [production designer, set decorator]

Lucky Luke (TV) – 1991-1992 [set decorator, dresser]

Lucky Luke – 1991 [set dresser]

Carlo Leva scenografo, appunti per un documentario – 2001 [himself]

Sergio Leone: Cinema, Cinema (TV) [himself]

Sad Hill Unearthed – 2017 [himself]