Director Powell died of cancer in January 1963, seven years after the film's release. Armendáriz was diagnosed with
kidney cancer in 1960, and killed himself in June 1963 after he learned his condition had become
terminal. Hayward, Wayne, and Moorehead all died of cancer in the 1970s. Hoyt died of
lung cancer in 1991. Skeptics point to other factors such as the wide use of
tobacco – Wayne and Moorehead in particular were heavy smokers, and Wayne himself believed his lung cancer to have been a result of his six-pack-a-day cigarette habit.
[20] The cast and crew totaled 220 people. By the end of 1980, as ascertained by People magazine, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease. Several of Wayne and Hayward's relatives who visited the set also had cancer scares.
Michael Wayne developed skin cancer, his brother
Patrick had a benign tumor removed from his breast, and Hayward's son Tim Barker had a benign tumor removed from his mouth.
[9][21]
Reportedly, Hughes felt guilty about his decisions regarding the film's production,
[8] particularly over the decision to film at a hazardous site. He bought every print of the film for $12 million and kept it out of circulation for many years until
Universal Pictures purchased the film from his estate in 1979.
[11][22] The Conqueror, along with
Ice Station Zebra,
[23] is said to be one of the films Hughes watched endlessly during his last years.
[24]
Dr. Robert Pendleton, then a professor of biology at the
University of Utah, is reported to have stated in 1980, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between
fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30-some cancers to develop. With 91 cancer cases, I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of
The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." Several cast and crew members, as well as relatives of those who died, considered suing the government for negligence, claiming it knew more about the hazards in the area than it let on.
[9][25]
Since the primary cast and crew numbered about 220, and a considerable number of cancer cases would be expected, controversy exists as to whether the actual results are attributable to radiation at the nearby nuclear weapons test site.
[26][27] Statistically, the odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43% and the odds of dying of cancer are 23% (slightly lower in women at 38% and 19%, respectively).
[28]