The Conqueror : Hollywood Fallout

The 1956 Genghis Kahn epic stared Hollywood royalty, John Wayne and Susan Haywood. A pet project of eccentric multi-millionaire Howard Hughes, ‘The Conqueror’ never lived up to his ambitions. But the story would have very long tail. 'The Conqueror' was filmed on location at Snow Canyon just outside the small Utah town of St. George. The distinctive red sand resembled the Mongolian Gobi Desert. But the area was contaminated by nuclear fallout from the US government’s atomic testing programme, carried downwind from Nevada. Reassured by government cold war propaganda the actors, crew and residents were unaware of the dangers to them. As the years passed many people became ill and died. The concentration of deaths among ‘The Conqueror’s’ cast and crew helped focus attention on the plight of the residents of St George and Utah. It helped amplify the residents’ own campaigns and eventually forced the US government into action.