Of the 220 cast and crew members who worked on the 1956 film The Conqueror, 91 developed cancer during their lifetimes and 46 died from it. The historical drama, which starred John Wayne as Genghis Khan and was directed by Dick Powell, is widely regarded by critics as a poorly conceived film, with Wayne widely considered miscast in the lead role. The production filmed exteriors in Utah locations including Snow Canyon, Pine Valley, Leeds, and the Escalante Desert near St. George.
That area sits roughly 137 miles downwind of the Nevada National Security Site, where the U. S. government conducted 11 above-ground nuclear weapons tests in 1953 as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. The cast and crew spent difficult weeks shooting at the location.
Filmmakers were aware of the nuclear testing, but the federal government had assured residents that the tests posed no public health hazard. After the production wrapped, producer Howard Hughes shipped 60 tons of dirt back to Hollywood so studio reshoots could match the Utah terrain. The decision later became a focal point of speculation about radiation exposure, though the number of cancer cases among the group is statistically in line with average adult cancer rates. However, those affected developed cancer at a younger age than the general population.
Several prominent members of the cast died of cancer. Susan Hayward was diagnosed with a lung tumor in March 1972 that metastasized, followed by a brain cancer diagnosis in 1973. She suffered a seizure at her Beverly Hills home and died on March 14, 1975, at age 57, and was buried in Carrollton, Georgia. Agnes Moorehead, a non-smoker who avoided alcohol and followed a strict health regimen, died of uterine cancer on April 30, 1974, in Rochester, Minnesota, at age 73.
Lee Van Cleef, who had heart disease and a pacemaker, died of a heart attack at his home in Oxnard, California, at age 64, with throat cancer listed as a secondary cause of death. Director Dick Powell died on January 2, 1963, at age 58, after malignant tumors were found on his neck and chest. Actor John Hoyt died of lung cancer in Santa Cruz, California, on September 15, 1991, at age 86. Pedro Armendáriz was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1960 and took his own life on June 18, 1963, after learning his condition had become terminal.
He was 51. John Wayne, who died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979, at the UCLA Medical Center at age 72, believed his illness was linked to his heavy cigarette habit. It was reported that several relatives of Wayne and Hayward who visited the set also experienced cancer scares. Howard Hughes reportedly felt guilty about his production decisions, particularly the choice to film near the hazardous site.
He purchased every print of The Conqueror for $12 million and kept the film out of circulation for years. Universal Pictures acquired the film from his estate in 1979. The Conqueror, along with Ice Station Zebra, was one of the films Hughes reportedly watched endlessly in his final years. The question of whether the illnesses stem from radiation exposure or coincidence remains unsettled.
Statistically, about 43 percent of American men develop cancer at some point, and about 23 percent die from it, numbers very close to what was observed among the film’s cast and crew.
