The 1956 Filming of "The Conqueror" (Episode 33)

It’s mushroom clouds over Hollywood in this episode, as we immerse ourselves in the tale of the 1956 making of “The Conqueror”, an 'historical' epic based on the life of Genghis Khan. Produced by Howard Hughes on the largest budget in RKO Studios’ history, the picture starred A-list actors John Wayne and Susan Hayward, and was shot in beautiful Snow Canyon, Utah. That location happened to be right next door to the Nevada Proving Grounds, where an aggressive series of nuclear test detonations was ongoing; but is that really what caused the cancer deaths of a quarter of the cast and crew? Grab your Geiger counter and join us for a closer look into Snow Canyon, Operation Teapot, the magic of CinemaScope, and the production of what is possibly the worst movie ever made.

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Sources for this episode include:

“Who Nuked the Duke?” by J W Law, 2014

'Screen: 'The Conqueror'; John Wayne Stars in Oriental 'Western'', A H Weiler for the New York Times, 1956

John Wayne’s 1971 Playboy Interview Transcript

'The Children of John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Dick Powell Fear That Fallout Killed Their Parents', by K G Jackovich and M Sennet for People Magazine, 1980

Nevada Test Site Oral History Project

'Cancer Incidence in an Area of Radioactive Fallout Downwind From the Nevada Test Site' by C J Johnson, as published in JAMA, 1984

'Cancer Mortality and Radioactive Fallout in Southwestern Utah" by S G Machado, et al, as published in American Journal of Epidemiology, 1987