Tragedy struck the set of the 1956 romance film The Conqueror, starring John Wayne and Susan Hayward, which was shot in Saint George, Utah during the summer of 1954.
Although the movie itself wasn’t a resounding success, it remains infamous for a much darker reason.
More than two decades after its release, the children of Wayne, Hayward, and the film’s director, d–k Powell, made a shocking discovery.
They realized that their parents, along with many other cast and crew members, likely developed cancer as a result of their work on the film.
Out of the 220 individuals involved in the production, a staggering 91 later contracted cancer, and tragically, 46 of them, including Wayne, Hayward, and Powell, succumbed to the disease.
According to Utah Public Radio, from 1951 to 1958, Saint George, Utah, was situated just over 100 miles away from a nuclear testing site.
The radio station reports that “significant amounts of debris containing radioactive substances were drawn up into the atmosphere.”
Although no bombs were tested at the nearby site during the 1954 filming, they had been detonated there 11 years earlier.
The adverse effects on the health of local residents became evident over time.
Bonnie, a Saint George resident, shared her personal experience in 2019, revealing the devastating toll: “I have lost many of my school buddies.
My sister passed away from liver cancer at 34.
My brother, who was just slightly older, succumbed to stomach cancer.
My mother battled cancer, and I myself have fought the disease.
It seems like everyone in that area, our group, has been afflicted with cancer.
The doctors have all attributed it to radiation.”
Prior to shooting in Saint George, the cast and crew of The Conqueror received assurance from the federal government that it was safe to film there, as reported by Collider.
However, this declaration would later be called into question.
Jeanne Gerson, an actress in the film, developed bre-st cancer and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the government for permitting filming in the area, according to Turner Classic Movies.
Multiple other lawsuits were also initiated.
In 1984, a district judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, concluding that “the Government had failed to inform or educate residents downwind about radiation hazards resulting from above-ground tests.”
However, in 1987, an appeals court overturned the ruling, stating that the government could not be held accountable.
This decision left many families devastated, including Helen Nisson, a Saint George resident, who believed that the radioactive debris had caused her 13-year-old son’s cancer, as reported by the New York Times.
She expressed
