- Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton starred in the movie version of 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.'
The last madam of the infamous Texas
brothel that inspired the movie and Broadway show "The Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas" has died in Phoenix. She was 84.
Edna Milton Chadwell's nephew, Robert
Kleffman, said Wednesday his aunt, the last owner of the Chicken Ranch
brothel in La Grange, Texas, died Feb. 25. She had been in the hospital
since a car accident in October.
Chadwell began working at the Chicken Ranch
in 1952, Kleffman said. Within three years, she had become the manager.
In 1962, she bought the establishment from Jessie Williams, commonly
known as Miss Jessie, and ran it until it was shut down in 1973 after a
TV story.
After the television report, Texas' governor
ordered police to shut down the Chicken Ranch, and a short time later
Chadwell moved to Arizona, where she got married and remained until she
died.
Chadwell didn't often talk about her years
at the brothel, Kleffman said, but sometimes would answer questions if
prompted. She wasn't ashamed of the work she did there, he said, but
also didn't want the notoriety that came with being the madam of a
famous brothel.
"She was a hard-nosed lady. She was very
straightforward, didn't put up with no monkey business, no nonsense,"
Kleffman said. "Hard-nosed. But with a spine of steel and a heart of
gold."
Kleffman, whose mother was one of Chadwell's
10 siblings, said his aunt dreamed of ghost-writing a book about her
years at the Chicken Ranch but was determined to do it only after
everyone involved had already died. While Kleffman believes she did in
the end outlive all the other women, she never did get to write the book
-- something she wanted to do partly to set the record straight on the
movie and show that put her establishment on the map.
"The only thing in the movie that was
correct was that there was a whorehouse," Kleffman said his aunt would
often say. "She said the sheriff and the madam, they don't have nothing
going on. It was just a business."
At the same time, while there were people
from that era that would bring a smile to Chadwell's face -- some of the
other girls and associates -- there were many she described as unsavory
and was happy to forget, Kleffman said.
Chadwell is survived by two brothers and
sisters and several nieces and nephews. At her request, there will be no
service or funeral.
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