"The Conqueror was also a disaster in another, much more horrifying way.
The town of St. George, where the cast and crew spent much of their time, and Snow Canyon, where most of The Conqueror was filmed, were about 100 miles downwind of the Nevada Test Site.
That's where the U.S. government tested various atomic weapons.
The government didn't bother to warn anybody about the fallout.
So the cast and crew of The Conqueror spent three solid months immersed in contaminated air, food, and water.
You can guess the result.
Reviewing The Conqueror's credits, from the top:
John Wayne? Died of cancer.
Susan Hayward? Died of cancer.
Agnes Moorehead? Died of cancer.
Pedro Armendariz? Committed suicide while dying of cancer.
Dick Powell? Died of cancer.
And so on.
By 1980, when People magazine did a headcount, at least 91 members of the cast and crew had contracted cancer. "