Controversial Texas newscaster Marvin Zindler gained recognition for his hard-hitting and unflinching nightly news broadcasts, most conducted during Zindler's long tenure at KTRK News in Houston. He had a particular affinity for rooting out corruption and malfeasance on the air, especially through his "Rat and Roach Report," a nightly portion of the broadcast devoted to discussions of unsanitary health conditions at Houston-area restaurants. To filmgoers (and theater buffs), Zindler is perhaps best known as the man who shut down the famed Chicken Ranch whorehouse in 1973, and thus inspired the character of crusading zealot Melvin P. Thorpe in the 1978 stage musical and 1982 Colin Higgins movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Dom DeLuise played Thorpe in the film. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
