The 1956 film The Conqueror, starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan and Susan Hayward as his love interest, gained notoriety for a tragic aftermath: an unusually high cancer incidence among its 220 cast and crew members, with 91 diagnosed and 46 fatalities by 1981, including Wayne and Hayward. Filmed in Snow Canyon, Utah, near the Nevada Test Site where the U.S. conducted 11 atmospheric nuclear tests in 1953, the production exposed everyone to radioactive fallout. Winds carried contaminated dust onto the set, and the team unwittingly stirred it up during shoots, inhaling and ingesting particles; even props shipped back to Hollywood studios spread the risk. While heavy smoking among many, like Wayne’s six-pack-a-day habit, complicated causation, experts estimate radiation doses equivalent to 400 chest X-rays for some. A new documentary, The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout, directed by Stuart Overbey and released in 2024, delves into this disaster, interviewing survivors and experts to highlight the human cost of nuclear testing and Hollywood’s oversight. It underscores broader impacts, like elevated cancer rates in nearby St. George residents, and calls for accountability in an era of atomic legacy.
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