Did the 1954 Howard Hughes biopic
The Conqueror have anything to do with the death of American conservative icon John Wayne? The film about
Mongolian warlord Temujin, who later became Genghis
Khan, was filmed near St. George Utah, downwind of the Nevada Proving Ground because the area's desolate desert scenery emulated Central Asia for Hollywood's purposes. The test site was used in the
1953 "Upshot-Knothole" series of eleven above ground "gadget" tests that included firing the M65 atomic cannon
[photo below].
The Conqueror was sometimes dubbed "A RKO Radioactive Picture", wordplay on the famous RKO Pictures trademark. The crew and cast spent weeks shooting on contaminated soil, and 60 tons of it was transported back to studio interiors to match location shots. They knew the soil was contaminated; a publicity still shows Wayne holding a Geiger counter! What they did not know was the degree of danger radioactive fallout posed to their health and their children's health. 91 of the 220 cast and crew of the film developed cancers by the time
People Magazine published a story on the cancer "epidemic" in 1980. The cancer incidence rate among a group this size was three times the expected rate. Forty-six have died of cancer including the film's male star (lung cancer usually attributed to smoking) and director Dick Powell (lymphoma). Noted Mexican actor and cast member, Pedro Armendáriz, shot himself when he learned he had terminal kidney cancer. Wayne reportedly regretted playing the Mongolian warrior, a part intended for Marlon Brando, saying the moral of the picture was "not to make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you're not suited for." Sound advice, Duke. The film, released in 1956, was a box office flop and may have contributed to the demise of RKO Picture studios. The cancer count does not include local Navajos who played Mongol extras (without makeup).
US Person thinks another moral to be gleaned from "The Conqueror" is: fallout kills.
[amateur video]
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| 15 kiloton "Grable" test at Frenchman's Flat in which 21,000 soldiers were deliberately exposed to fallout in conjunction with the Desert Rock V exercise |
