Quote:
Originally posted by AppleOnYa:

But speaking of 'The Conquerer', I heard once that the area in which much of the movie was filmed was contaminated due to nuclear testing. After location shooting was completed, dirt from the location was transported back to Hollywood in order to match the interior shots. Many of the cast & crew, including co-stars Wayne & Hayward, Agnes Moorehead and director Dick Powell...developed various forms of cancer years later and there was speculation that these illnesses (all terminal) might've been in part due to filming on location for 'The Conquerer'.

Apple
As far as I know that's true. In fact, according to IMDB.com Howard Hughes (who produced the film) felt so guilty about it that he bought all existing copies of the film. From IMDB:

Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes provided the financial backing for this film and later paid an extra $12 million (estimated) for every existing print of it from a sense of guilt - it was he who paid for the shipping of 60 tons of radioactive dirt to Hollywood for retakes (see above). He kept a jealous hold on the film, not even allowing it to be seen on television, for 17 years until 1974, when Paramount managed to secure the rights to reissue it.