The Silence of the Lambs may immediately remind some people of the villainous Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), but the film's most unnerving moments feature the focal serial killer, Jame Gumb. Portrayed by Ted Levine, the fictional character was introduced in Thomas Harris' 1988 eponymous novel, and the big screen portrayal has long made audiences wonder if "Buffalo Bill" is indeed a real person. The truth: he's a terrifying amalgamation of various American serial killers.

The Silence of the Lambs revolves around the bizarre yet fascinating relationship between Hannibal Lecter and FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). The film's inciting incident stems from the investigator's willingness to put aside her fears in favor of the truth, which impresses Lecter and leads to him providing valuable leads. Jonathan Demme's film hypes up the inevitable reveal of Buffalo Bill, which at once boosts the inherent suspense while touching about psychological factors that have made true crime productions so popular, both then and now. In The Silence of the Lambs, audiences learn about Buffalo Bill's lure methods, and also discover that he starves and skins his victims. The collective visuals are shocking, but it's the character psychology that makes Buffalo Bill so utterly disturbing.

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What does Buffalo Bill really want, and why? The Silence of the Lambs does indeed answers those questions, as the character fundamentally wants to transform into a woman. The conflict to overcome, however, is the difficulties faced while pursuing a gender reassignment procedure. Due to mental health issues, Buffalo Bill can't quite get the proper medical assistance that he desires. Incidentally, he kills women as a coping mechanism, in order to quite literally wear the skin of his female victims. For dramatic purposes, the character sketch was inspired by a variety of serial killers. The most obvious influence is Ted Bundy, who—like Buffalo Bill—lured female victims into his vehicle. Bundy was executed at age 42 in January 1989, just months before The Silence of the Lambs began production, and remains a relevant pop culture figure decades letter, due to the rise of true crime documentaries.

A close up of Ted Bundy in the poster for Conversations With A Killer

The additional inspirations for the Buffalo Bill character model were serial killers Ed Gein and Jerry Brudos. The former is notorious in pop culture for making skin suits out of his victims, while the latter is known for wearing the clothes of his female victims. Both men share personality traits with Buffalo Bill. Some extra historical context: Gein killed in the '50s, Brudos killed in the '60s, and Bundy began his killing spree in the '70s. Serial killers like Edmund Kemper (portrayed by Cameron Britton in Mindhunter) and Gary Ridgway ("The Green River Killer") have also been linked to Buffalo Bill, primarily due to emotional trauma that stems from childhood experiences, and thus affects their worldview.

Related: Buffalo Bill's Backstory In The Silence Of The Lambs' Novel & Film

Buffalo Bill's torture methods connect to those of Gary Heidnik, a Philadelphia native who lured women to his residence in the '80s and subsequently kept them in a hole. In The Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill kidnaps Catherine Martin - the daughter of a U.S. Senator, and keeps her in a hole within his home. But whereas Heidnik wanted to psychologically control his victims, Buffalo Bill goes a step further by terrorizing his victims and then physically wearing their skin. The Silence of the Lambs doesn't necessarily glamorize Buffalo Bill as a character with big "movie moments," but rather captures various personality traits from real-life killers who struggled to understand their place in the world, and subsequently paid little attention to complex psychological factors that influenced their behavior.

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