The Silence of the Lambs Buffalo Bill was a Composite of Three Notorious Killers
One of the most unsettling villains in film history, "Buffalo Bill" borrowed different traits from three infamous killers
Story
Adapted from the novel of the same name, the Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs was directed by Jonathan Derne and written by Ted Tally, and upon the film's release in 1991, it chilled and disturbed viewers worldwide.
The premise of the film revolves around a young FBI agent (Jodie Foster) who is tasked with hunting a violent serial killer nicknamed “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine). To do this, she enlists the help of imprisoned killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to build a profile on the elusive serial killer.
Buffalo Bill targets “larger” women, keeping them imprisoned and depriving them of food. Once their skin begins to come loose due to accelerated fat loss, he kills them, usually by strangulation, before removing their skin to create a skinsuit.
The back story of “Buffalo Bill” is detailed in the book but is subsequently left out of the film; the film only states that he had a traumatic childhood; however, the book gives much greater detail.
Buffalo Bill, real name Jame Gumb, was put into foster care at a young age after his prostitute mother failed to secure herself a Hollywood acting career and spirals into alcoholism; he is adopted by his Grandparents, who he subsequently kills at the age of twelve.
As with many book-to-film adaptations, sometimes information is discarded to reduce run time and create a more linear story. However, leaving out the details of Gumb's backstory did seem like an odd choice.
The film does keep Gumb’s deep hatred for his identity, which is detailed in the book.
The Silence of the Lambs film (and book) is not simply the product of a warped imagination, a writer creating a twisted villain. Buffalo Bill was, in fact, compiled, much like Frankenstein's monster, by three real-life, depraved serial killers…
Ed Gein AKA The Plainfield Ghoul
Ed Gein, “The Butcher of Plainfield,” is usually labeled as a serial killer, even though he only admitted to killing two women, Bernice Worden (1957) and Mary Hogan (1954) - despite numerous bodies being found in his dilapidated farmhouse in Wisconsin, which he confessed to have acquired by digging up graves from a nearby graveyard.
In 1957, a local hardware owner, Bernice Worden, a 58-year-old widow, vanished whilst on shift, with the last customer she served being none other than Ed Gein.
The police arrived at his farmhouse with questions, but they were not prepared for the horrors that awaited them. The inside of Ed Gein's farmhouse was like walking into a nightmare; for over a decade, Gein had indulged himself in his depraved desires.
One of which was to try and resurrect his deceased mother, and the other was to create household items out of human body parts.
Police found chairs upholstered with human skin, leggings made from human skin, masks and lampshades made from people’s faces, a belt made from nipples, cutlery carved from bones, and even a pair of lips used on window blind drawstrings.
When questioned by police, Gein confessed to his desire to create a “female skin suit” to wear and “become his mother.”
Though Gein’s classification as a serial killer can be debated, his fascination with removing skin and wanting to create a skin suit is certainly the gruesome inspiration used to build a part of “Buffalo Bill's” violent persona.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy was a serial killer, rapist, and necrophiliac who murdered 30 women throughout the 1970s, although experts believe he may have killed closer to 100 women.
Bundy didn’t explicitly have an obsession with his victims skin, but the way he lured his victims was another inspiration fed into “Buffalo Bill’s” character - charm and deception.
Ted Bundy, despite his heinous crimes, was seen as a very charming and handsome man - so charming that he was able to feign injury to lure kindhearted women to their deaths.
He would sometimes pretend he needed help to get back to his car, and when they offered to help, they would approach his vehicle, usually in a secluded spot, and would then strike them over the head, bundle them into his car, restrain them, usually with handcuffs, and then take them to a remote area where he would proceed to rape and murder them.
He would even revisit their bodies time and again for sexual gratification until decomposition became too much of a problem.
In The Silence of the Lambs, Gumb, AKA Buffalo Bill, used Bundy’s technique - he would lure an unsuspecting woman into his van by faking an injury and asking them to help him lift something heavy into his vehicle, he would then bludgeon them from behind, restrain them with handcuffs, and drive them back to his house.
Gary M Heidnik
Gary M Heidnik was a sadistic killer and rapist who imprisoned and tortured six young African-American women during 1986 and 1987. Heidnik didn’t use deception or violence to abduct his victims; he would simply take them back to his home, where his sadistic side would come out.
Once in his home, Heidnik would drug his victims or choke them into unconsciousness. Heidnik had always desired to have his own sex slaves, so once he had the women in his home, he would repeatedly rape them and keep them in a pit he dug in his basement.
This was another sadistic slice of inspiration given to Gumb in Silence of The Lambs, as he too would keep the women he abducted in a pit in his basement, where he essentially starved them to the point of causing sagging skin, to enable him to create a “skin suit.”
“It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again” - One of Buffalo Bill’s infamous Lines from Silence of The Lambs.
Three Parts Evil
It would be easy to think of Jame Gumb, “Buffalo Bill” as an over-the-top villain created for pure shock value, but this isn’t the case -
Buffalo Bill is, in fact, three parts real sadistic, evil who walked this earth and did unspeakable things to real human beings. The parts extracted from Gein, Bundy, and Heidnik created a truly disturbing “Frankenstein monster” of a serial killer and one of the most memorable and terrifying characters in film history.
Sources:
Hannibal Wiki, “The Silence of The Lambs (film)”, https://hannibal.fandom.com/wiki/The_Silence_of_the_Lambs_(film)
Kaleena Fraga, “The Macabre Story Of Ed Gein, The Serial Killer Who Used Human Body Parts To Make Furniture” All That is Interesting, January 29, 2022, https://allthatsinteresting.com/ed-gein
Movie Morgue Wiki, “Jame Gumb”, https://moviemorgue.fandom.com/wiki/Jame_Gumb
Biography.Com Editors And Tyler Piccotti, “Ted Bundy”, updated: June 26, 2024, https://www.biography.com/crime/ted-bundy
Criminal Minds Fandom, “Gary M Heinnik”, https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Gary_Heidnik