The last madam of the infamous Texas brothel that inspired the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" has died in Phoenix. She was 84. Her nephew told the Houston Chronicle that his aunt died on February 25th after being hospitalized since a car accident in October.
Although Robert Kleffman told the paper his aunt "hated" the movie--the film put a local family farm in the national spotlight.
Few people heard about Edna Milton in the golden years of her life. Her nephew told the Houston Chronicle she stayed in her house, watched TV and smoked two cartons of cigarettes a week.
He also told the paper she did not talk about her time at the Chicken Ranch in La Grange and most of her neighbors in Phoenix probably didn't know about it.
But the story of the oldest brothel in the country and a Houston TV reporter's investigations into it which led to its shut down, brought Hollywood to the home of Winnie Mae Murchison.
"I guess they were just driving through the country and they saw it and that's just kind of what they decided they wanted to do," said Murchison.
Although the Chicken Ranch closed in 1973 the legend of the brothel and of Edna Milton continued when filming on the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas began in 1981 at this farm house outside of Pflugerville.
"We said well if we don't do it somebody's going to do it. It's not that it was a movie we were excited about doing you know with a good ole German conservative community like Pflugerville," said Murchison.
Murchison has an album of three decade old photos, of Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds and other film stars.
"It was just something new for all of us," said Murchison.
Five generations of Murchison's family lived in the farm house that she still owns. After the movie she says it became a joke around town.
"It got to be funny and all my friends would call me the madam you know, this is the madam of Pflugerville and my son-in-law would say you know where she lives, she lives in the whore house," she said.
Murchison says she heard stories of Milton from friends in La Grange--not just about a madam of a brothel but also about a woman who helped little leagues, bought supplies for schools and made contributions to the city.
"She was doing some good and she didn't bring a lot of riff raff," said Murchiso