In 1956, Howard Hughes began producing an epic fresco centered on the character of Genghis Khan.
The film is called The Conqueror and it will become one of the worst turnips in history, in particular because of the casting of John Wayne in the main role, more credible in the role of the cowboy than the Mongolian emperor…
To recreate the steppes of Mongolia, Howard Hughes decided to film in the state of Utah. He chose a site near the town of St George.
The problem is that this place is quite close to Yucca Flat, the area of Nevada where nuclear experiments were carried out a few years earlier (11 atomic bombs were exploded as part of the Operation Upshot-Knothole program).
The film will be shot 220 km from the test location, which might seem far away in absolute terms, but the filming site is constantly swept by winds that come from Nevada.
Radioactive dust is present throughout the area…
Aware of the potential risk, Howard Hughes questioned the government about the danger of filming there. We assure him that there is no risk.
Filming is therefore moving forward. For 13 weeks, a team of 220 people will spend their days on site. They mainly film in Snow Canyon, a natural canyon, known today for retaining radioactive dust for a long time in its winding folds.
Once filming was completed, Howard Hughes would also have 60 tons of earth transported from St. George to Hollywood so that the floor of the shots remaining to be filmed in the studio would match that of the exteriors.
In doing so, and without knowing it, he further exposes his team to radioactive dust…
We would only discover years later the impact of this filming on the health of the team members.
Over the next 25 years, 91 of the 220 people who worked on this film developed cancer. Or 41%.
And 46 people died, including actors John Wayne (72 years old, lung, throat and stomach cancer), Susan Hayward (56 years old, breast, uterine and brain cancer), Lee Van Cleef (throat cancer), Agnes Moorehead (uterine cancer) and director Dick Powell (53, lymph cancer).
Naturally, we cannot attribute all these cancers to this filming in a contaminated area, but since it has been calculated that the rate of cancers affecting the team was three times higher than the national average, it is difficult not to see link.
Furthermore, a study carried out in the 1970s in St. George determined that cancer victims were 5 times higher in that city than in other places in the state that were not in the path of the winds from from Nevada…
A law was also passed in 1990 to compensate victims of cancer in the region, recognized as linked to nuclear tests.