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The John Wayne Movie That Likely Killed Dozens of People – My Blog

 Some films with disastrous productions end up being truly special, while others don’t warrant the struggles endured by the cast and crew. The Conqueror, considered the worst film of the 1950s, suffered from a toxic working environment and was filmed near a nuclear test site. Out of the 220 cast and crew members, 91 developed cancer and 46 died, likely due to exposure to nuclear fallout during the shoot.

“This better be worth it.” Sometimes it’s more about the journey than the destination, but when it’s a journey through hell, you hope the destination will make up for what you’ve been put through. The same question can be asked in the history of film production, because we all know about the movies that were “cursed.” So many films had disastrous productions with overblown budgets, delay upon delay, and worst of all, casualties among the cast and crew, from psychological distress to, unfortunately, deaths. John Wayne‘s The Conqueror is a problematic movie in more ways than one, with the 1956 picture being one of Hollywood’s worst productions.
The Conqueror 1956 Film Poster
The ConquerorMongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.

Release Date March 28, 1956Director Dick PowellCastJ ohn Wayne , Susan Hayward , Pedro Armendáriz , Agnes MooreheadRuntime 111 minutesMain Genre AdventureGenres Adventure , Biography , HistoryWriters Oscar Millard
Not All Stressful Movie Productions Are Worth ItSo, you ask: Was it all worth it? Sometimes, all the agony and disasters end up with a final product that is truly special, even world-changing, such as The Wizard of Oz. Sometimes, a movie is still good or even great, but you wonder if it was worth all the cast and crew endured. Other times, like in Waterworld’s case, a really difficult and expensive shoot wasn’t worth it critically or financially. And in certain, horrible cases, not only did the final product fail miserably, but the bad decisions of those on top and the long-term effects it wrought on the cast and crew, made it never worth the risk at all.It was the late 1950s, and everyone was all about the big, expensive sword-and-sandals epics. Throw a bunch of A-Listers, thousands of unnamed extras, and a bunch of horses in the middle of the desert and adapt a classic story of historical, mythological, or biblical proportions. This really kicked off in the early 1960s with films such as Spartacus and Cleopatra, but in 1956, the world was graced with one of the best in the genre, The Ten Commandments, and the very same year gave us one of the worst.John Wayne Shouldn’t Have Been Cast in ‘The Conqueror’
John Wayne and Susan Hayward in The Conqueror (1956)Image Via RKO Radio Pictures
The Conqueror, directed by Dick Powell and produced by Howard Hughes, follows the origin story of the infamous Mongol emperor, Genghis Khan, then called Temüjin. Such a significant figure in history would require the perfect man to play him, though the man chosen was John Wayne. Yes, The Duke, the eternal cowboy, playing Genghis Khan. This is the fact that people don’t believe when first hearing it. Having white actors in offensive makeup play Asian characters wasn’t new, just an unfortunate reality of film history, but… John Wayne, really? That was considered a horrible miscast even back then. Marlon Brando, another actor with a staggeringly distinct look and voice, was originally slated for the role but backed out of the project. A much better choice, East-Russian-born Yul Brynner, had a more promising movie to do (The Ten Commandments), and they were both incredibly lucky they missed out.
The Conqueror is considered the worst film of the 1950s. At least Plan 9 From Outer Space is fun, and mercifully short, but The Conqueror is nearly two glacial hours long and takes itself deadly seriously. It is insulting and historically inaccurate – and just overall embarrassing. So, Howard Hughes blew about $6 million (that’s $65,993,382.35 today) on a terrible movie. What’s the big deal? Bigger budgets have been spent on worse movies, and it made that money back. However, a bad movie would become the least of the cast and crew’s worries.‘The Conqueror’s Production Fought Mother Nature
The Conqueror 1956Image Via RKO Radio Pictures
The Conqueror is considered a cursed movie by many, and it has the regular pitfalls of any film given that description: going over budget, getting delayed, and conflicts between, well, mostly Hughes and everyone else. But this film is considered more cursed than most, with the effects being far-reaching and lasting many, many years. This was no curse brought on by higher powers like, allegedly, the cursed production of The Exorcist. This wasn’t some product of supernatural meddling, because this film didn’t just have a toxic working environment… it had an irradiated one.
If a dysentery-stricken Harrison Ford, the million-dollar insurance policies of The Mummy, and the testimony of many, many actors can teach us anything, it’s that shooting in a desert anywhere in the world sucks. Nature is out to get you in the middle of nowhere. You have to fight with the blistering heat and potentially dangerous animals, all while dealing with the regular stressors that pop up on a film set. Nature doesn’t compromise, nature doesn’t cooperate, and nature doesn’t care about your movie. Why should it? According to Harry and Michael Medved‘s book, Hollywood Hall of Shame, The Conqueror made for a grueling shoot for that reason alone: water sources dried up and people fainted from heatstroke, but it was pushed over the edge from grueling to genuinely dangerous by the particular desert they decided to use for filming.
John_Wayne_Movie_That_Disreguarded_The_Book
The Conqueror, while set in The Gobi Desert, was filmed primarily in the plains of Utah, Snow Valley, Pine Valley, Leeds, Harrisburg, with the outdoor scenes being shot in the Escalante Desert. The outdoor scenes, as in any desert shoot, were the most dangerous, but 137 miles downwind from where the cameras were rolling was the Nevada National Security Site, otherwise known as The Nevada Test Site. It was the 1950s, meaning the Cold War was quickly heating up and this site was a prime location for testing nuclear weapons of mass destruction. According to John G. Fuller‘s book, The Day We Bombed Utah, the health effects of nuclear fallout, no matter how small the exposure, is devastating, with many “down-winders,” particularly from the city of St. George, suffering from cancer because of it. The filmmakers knew about these tests, 11 of them occurring in 1953 with the shoot beginning only a year later, but were assured by the government that they were safe to continue the production.John Wayne’s ‘The Conqueror’ Leaves Behind a Horrible LegacyOut of the 220 cast and crew members counted, 91 of them ended up developing a wide range of cancers in the next couple of decades, and 46 of them ended up succumbing to the disease. Among the fatalities were Powell, Wayne, and stars Susan Hayward and Pedro Armendáriz. This number does not account for the primarily Native American extras in the film, which likely means the number of humans affected was much higher. Obviously, there are other reasons that one would get cancer in the 1950s. Almost everyone, for example, smoked. But having almost half the cast and crew of the same film all succumbing to a disease that is caused by nuclear fallout seems like a pretty big coincidence. All of them spent months downwind of a nuclear test site, breathing the air, drinking the water, and touching the dirt not only there, but in re-shoots when Hughes insisted it be imported in.
Shockingly, no one got served for this horrific and damaging misstep; not Hughes, not Powell, not RKO Radio Pictures, not the government. According to Darwin Porter‘s book, Howard Hughes: Hell’s Angel​​​​​​, that guilt really set in for Howard Hughes, and when he began to spiral into obsessive compulsiveness, he hoarded every print of The Conqueror, one of the films he’d watch repeatedly until his death in 1976. There is far more of this story to tell and is told in books such as Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror, which is worth its own movie. Heck, you’re better off reading those books than watching The Conqueror.

Entertainment

Woman Attempting To Sleep With One Person From Every Country Shares The Worst Nationality In Bed

A woman has opened up about her sexual escapades and which country had the best (and worst) lovers

An adult entertainer who has slept with men from all over the world has spilled the tea on her worst and best lovers (so far).

Adult entertainer Coco Bae has slept with men from over 40 countries and counting.

Some of these include America, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, Haiti, and Coco wants to eventually cover all 195 countries.

As her mission continues, the adult star has been ‘collecting flags’ from each nationality she’s slept with to keep track of her sexual escapades.

“My rules are to count the country on his passport, not where the dude happens to be living at the time of our encounter,” she said.

Listing off the countries she’s ‘visited’ (if you get me), Coco went on to tell PerthNow:

“I’ve had men from America, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, Haiti, El Salvador, Holland, Norway, Greece, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Belize, Djibouti, Nicaragua, Italy, Guatemala, Switzerland and Argentina.”

“And then Honduras, Costa Rica, Thailand, Russia, Columbia? I’m not sure. Albania, Brazil. India, Spain, Peru, Lebanon, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia. Armenia, Scotland, Ukraine and New Zealand.” Impressive.

Coco also answered the question on everyone’s minds: which countries have so far been the best and worst in bed?

According to the adult star, Latinos are the most ‘intense’ in bed.

“My lovers from Brazil were the most enjoyable to be with,” she said.

“They were just up for having fun, whichever way it happens.”

Coco also revealed that men from more conservative countries are quite experimental when it comes to sex.

“Many of the conservative cultures enjoy the most ‘out there’ acts. For example, I have come across many Arab and Indian dudes who really like booty action in various forms,” said Coco.

As for the worst country in bed, apparently her most boring partners have been from Germany.

While they weren’t the best, Coco did praise German men being eager to please and how they apparently ask for feedback.

She also chatted to Australian radio hosts Kyle and Jackie O, where she shared what her experiences with Aussie men has been like.

“Australian men need to step it up a little bit,” she shared.

“You’re just not putting in any effort. And you need to wash your hands.”

Speaking of how much she loves a tradesman – a popular vocation in Australia – Coco encouraged guys to make sure they ‘scrub behind their fingernails’.

A fair point, if you ask me.

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Kanye West Shares Provocative Video Of Wife Bianca In Bed And Fans Can’t Stop Pointing Out How Big It Is

It’s pretty common for Kanye West to post photos of his wife, Bianca Censori, and for fans to go wild over them.

The ‘Golddigger’ rapper has shared a lot of pictures and videos of his Australian wife.

These range from her daring, barely-there outfits to her strange, all-in-one body stockings.

Kanye is also known for making bold comments to get attention, like speaking out against critics.

Recently, the couple has stirred up even more buzz with a new social media post.

They shared a video from their bedroom, and there’s one detail that fans just can’t stop talking about.

On Instagram, Kanye posted a video showing Bianca lying on a bed surrounded by pillows.

She was dressed in all white, including white heels and a tight-fitting outfit.

It looked like she was on her phone, not paying much attention to Kanye, who was breathing heavily behind the camera.

The fans overlooked Bianca’s outfit and focused on the enormous size of the bed she was on.

It looked twice the size of a Super King bed, with enough room for more than five pillows.

One fan commented, “Bed can fit 5 [families] with 6 individuals.”

Another added, “It’s gotta be a nightmare trying to find a fitted sheet for that!”

A third fan mentioned that the huge bed resembled the one from Kanye’s 2016 music video for ‘Famous’.

Kanye soon deleted the video without giving any reason.

Even though the video is no longer available, Kanye is no stranger to sharing provocative content featuring his wife, whether in revealing outfits or suggestive poses.

Bianca seems to be on board with her husband’s posts.

However, not everyone is thrilled, especially her father, who has previously voiced his concerns about the content.

According to a source speaking to DailyMail.com, Bianca’s father, Leo, has asked Kanye to meet with him to talk about the explicit content being shared.

The source said, “Kanye has been invited to go to Australia, and Bianca is hesitant to allow this to happen because she knows how her father will react.”

“Her dad still plans to have a sit-down with Kanye, and Leo will not be intimidated by Kanye’s power or control. No one is expecting this to be all rainbows and family portraits.”

Despite this, Bianca is reportedly more than happy to go along with her husband’s ideas.

An insider told PageSix, “People are confusing Bianca’s creativity. She is a phenomenal personality, a phenomenal actor, who can entertain the public.”

“She’s a performance artist. Bianca is as much a performer as Ye is.”

Bianca and Kanye have been married since 2022, following Kanye’s high-profile split and divorce from his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. Kanye has four children with Kim: North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm.

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Singer turns 58, people barely recognize Samantha Fox

If you are someone who was attuned to the celebrity scene in the 1980s, then you might remember Samantha Fox. She started out as a model, and by the end, her career had led to her becoming a musician.

While she was incredibly famous at one point, she is not in the mainstream these days. She was at one point the most photographed woman in the UK.

Keep reading to learn more about it.

From days when she was a staple on page 3 to then becoming a globally recognized music star, Samantha Fox is still loved by millions around the world. She was born in North London on April 15, 1966. She was born to parents were Carole Fox and Patrick Fox. She had a younger sister named Vanessa, who sadly passed away in 2023.

Her mother, Carole Ann was an actress, and father, John Patrick was a carpenter. They were married from 1965 to 1988. Her mother passed away 2013, while her father passed in 2000.

Samantha Fox began her career when she entered a modeling competition when she was 16 years old. Her mother entered her in the Sunday People’s ‘Face and Shape of 1983’ competition. She ended up being one of the finalists, and the photographer was impressed by her ‘unusual’ proportions and natural beauty.

He said, “face of a child and the body of a woman”, and told her to do some topless shots. She agreed, and that lead to her becoming a regular Page 3 girl in The Sun newspaper from 1983 to 1986.

In the 1980s, she was one of the most photographed people in the UK, and in 1986, she began her music career.

She debuted with her single Touch Me (I Want Your Body) which helped her shoot to fame. She then released more songs like Naughty Girls and more all of which only increased her celebrity. In her personal life, she had her fair share of problems, including a legal battle with her father over mismanagement of her earnings.

Despite all of the issues in her personal life, she wanted to make sure she still released music throughout it. She was always a big advocate for the LGBTQIA+, having married Linda Olsen in 2022. Now at 58 years old, she is still busy in her career.

Over the years she has had several transformations. Her talent has helped her persevere and reinvent herself. Samantha Fox initially started out as a model with a provocative image.

She remained active in the 1980s and 1990s. Apart from her music, she has made appearances in films and TV shows. She also participated in reality TV over the years.

Her father oversaw her career until she found out that he had taken more than £1 million from her income. She decided to pursue legal action against him in 1991. She won the lawsuit in 1995 and received a settlement of £363,000. The two of them never reconciled and he passed away in 2000.

In 1988, she received a nomination for Best British Female Artist at the Brit Awards. She collaborated with other artists which include the legends Freddie Mercury. She is even working on music now, releasing her latest album in 2023 produced by Ian Masterson.

She married her Norwegian wife, Linda Olsen in 2022 in a ceremony in Essex. The couple had been engaged since February 2020. They met at a concert and Olsen was a fan of the singer. They now live together in East London with Olsen’s son Adam and their two pet cats.

Before marrying Olsen, the singer had dated many people which included men and women. She dated the infamous Peter Foster in the 1980s but did not accept his proposal. She publicly came out as gay in 2003. At the time she made her relationship with then-manager Myra Stratton public. The couple were together for 16 years until Stratton passed due to cancer in 2015.

Samantha Fox later revealed she knew she was gay but did not want to admit it because of the stigma surrounding it.

Fox has said that she knew she was gay before meeting Stratton, but she was afraid to admit it because of the stigma and the pressure from the media.

She described herself as a “very happy woman” who is “very much in love” with Olsen.

It is wonderful to see how Samatha Fox is doing these days. Share this with other fans of the singer so they can see what she has been up to.

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