The real Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs is based on a series of real-life serial killers. Although it’s Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) who is most memorable in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 masterpiece, it’s Buffalo Bill (Ted LeVine) who Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is an tasked with cracking the case of. As a deranged serial killer who kidnaps and skins women in order to wear them, he’s among horror’s truly terrifying human villains, and is made even scarier by the true story underpinning the character.
