10 Movie Roles Actors Wish They'd Never Accepted
8. John Wayne As Genghis Khan
In the mid 1950s, John Wayne was on top of the world, having established himself as one of America's leading actors in the Western genre. Then, he decided to try something different, something he'd live to regret for the rest of his days.
He heard about a movie called The Conqueror based on the life of Mongol warlord Genghis Khan, and for some reason, he wanted the starring role. Having read the script, Wayne pushed hard to get the part, and since he was such a big name at the time, he got it.
The film turned out to be one of the worst movies ever made and Wayne's performance is regarded as one of the most dramatic cases of miscasting in Hollywood history. The actor greatly distanced himself from the film in years that followed and said he learned a valuable lesson about not taking on roles he wasn't suited for.
Tragically, this story took an even darker turn when it was revealed that filming for The Conqueror had taken place near an old atomic testing site, leading to dozens of cast and crew members later developing cancer. Wayne himself died of the disease at the age of 72.