10 Movie Productions That Tragically Ended With Real Deaths

1. The Conqueror (1956)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAJRrfd0-50 I selected this film as the most tragic of all films responsible for the real-life deaths of cast and crew members involved because it took the lives of so many, however, the deaths all occurred over time, years and years after filming completed. This film was a dud from the start, but starred John Wayne and a host of other well-known performers. It was filmed, though, unfortunately down wind of a nuclear testing site in Nevada. T he following people developed cancer presumably from having been exposed to the chemicals that blew in from the testing site onto the set during the three months of filming: Dick Powell (director), John Wayne (actor), Susan Hayward (actress), Agnes Moorhead (actress), John Hoyt (actor), and Pedro Armendariz (actor), to name a few. Armendariz committed suicide after learning his cancer was terminal to avoid suffering. The most shocking fact about the filming of this movie is that out of the 220 cast and crew members, 91 had developed one form of cancer by 1980 and 47 had died from their disease. True, it can be argued that the use of tobacco, especially by Wayne and Moorhead, were responsible for most of the cancer cases, but it would be one hell of a coincidence, considering that members of both Wayne and Hayward€™s families, who visited the actors on set, also had their own bouts with cancer.