<P> Jame Gumb (known by the nickname Buffalo Bill) is a character and the primary antagonist of Thomas Harris's 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs and its 1991 film adaptation, in which he is played by Ted Levine . In the film and the novel, he is a serial killer who murders overweight women and skins them so he can make a "woman suit" for himself . </P> <P> According to the novel, Gumb was born in California on October 25, 1949, and abandoned by his mother--an alcoholic sex worker who misspelled "James" on his birth certificate--and taken into foster care at age two . The screenplay omits Gumb's backstory, but does imply that he had a traumatic childhood . Lecter summarizes Gumb's life thus: "Billy was not born a criminal, but made one by years of systematic abuse ." </P> <P> The novel goes on to tell of Gumb living in foster homes until the age of 10 before being adopted by his grandparents, who became his first victims . The story then puts him in Tulare Vocational Rehabilitation, a psychiatric hospital where he learns to be a tailor . Later, Gumb has a relationship with Benjamin Raspail . After Raspail leaves him, he kills Raspail's new lover, Klaus, and flays him . </P> <P> Both the novel and film depict Gumb as a tortured and self - hating individual . Believing himself to be transgender, he wants to become a woman but is too psychologically disturbed to qualify for gender reassignment surgery . He kills women so he can skin them and create a "woman suit" for himself . </P>

Silence of the lambs buffalo bill character analysis