Here is Buffalo Bill's backstory from both The Silence Of The Lambs novel and movie explained. Despite only appearing for about sixteen minutes of screentime, Anthony Hopkins' riveting performance in The Silence Of The Lambs helped make cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter an instant horror icon. Hopkins would reprise the role two more times, while Mads Mikkelsen won the character a new legion of followers with NBC's Hannibal.
Hannibal's presence in the movie might be majorly impactful, but he's not the main villain. Silence Of The Lambs cast Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill - AKA Jame Gumb - a serial killer who flays his female victims to build himself a skinsuit so can "transform" into a woman. Levine's incredibly menacing turn combined with memorable lines like "It puts the lotion on its skin" won the actor praise, though the character was heavily criticized upon for harmful stereotyping of the transgender community.
The Silence Of The Lambs' book and movie both feature characters, including Hannibal himself, going to lengths to state that Gumb isn't really transgender, but just hates his own identity so much he wants to transform into something "beautiful." Regardless, Buffalo Bill remains a controversial character, which is a legacy the recent sequel series Clarice is trying to address. The Silence Of The Lambs movie doesn't provide much detail about Bill's backstory, with Lecter implying he wasn't born a killer but was made one through uses of "systematic" abuse as a child. He also links Bill to one of his ex-patients Benjamin Raspail, who Lecter implies was Bill's first victim.
Thomas Harris' Silence Of The Lambs novel goes into further detail about Buffalo Bill's backstory. He was born to an alcoholic mother and his birth name Jame was supposed to be "James," but was misspelled on his birth certificate. Jame was later adopted by his grandparents, who would prove to be his first victims at age 12. This saw him sent to a psychiatric hospital until he turned 18, and after working various oddjobs upon release - including as a tailor - he entered into a romantic relationship with Raspail, who played with the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra. Raspail was also a patient and, eventually, a victim of Lecter's, who killed him to improve the overall quality of the orchestra. The good doctor also had one session with Gumb.
Gumb's relationship with Raspail is recounted as a turbulent one in Silence Of The Lambs, and after the latter left Jame for a new lover named Klaus, Gumb killed Klaus before flaying the body to make an apron. Klaus was also the first time he inserted a moth into a victim's mouths to symbolize their transformation, which became his motif as a killer. When Gumb's multiple applications for sex resignment surgery were all rejected, he decided to create himself a suit made out of women's skin to complete his desire.
His girlfriend Fredrica Bimmel ended up being the first of "Buffalo Bill's" victims, who he starved in a well before hanging her and flaying her body. Bill also earned his name due to a bad taste joke from police officers about how he "skins his humps," in reference to the flayed bodies. In both The Silence Of The Lambs movie and novel, FBI trainee Clarice Starling is forced to cooperate with Lecter to track Bill down, and in the finale of both stories, ends up shooting him dead after a tense game of cat and mouse in a dark basement.