I've just found out that the character of Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs) was based on a real-life doctor in my hometown!!!!
Thomas Harris has given few interviews, and did not explain where he got inspiration for Hannibal Lecter until mid 2013. Harris revealed that the character was inspired by a real-life Mexican doctor and murderer he met while visiting a prison in Monterrey city, in the state of Nuevo León, during a trip to Mexico in the 1960s, when he was a 23-year-old reporter.[35] The doctor was serving a life sentence for murdering a young man, supposedly a "close friend", mutilating his body into several body parts and putting them in a very small box. Harris, who would only refer to the surgeon by the fake name "Dr. Salazar", described him as a "small lithe pale man with dark red hair". He added: "There was certain intelligence and elegance about him."[36] Harris had gone to Mexico to interview Dykes Askew Simmons, a US citizen on death row for murdering three young people in the country, but he ended up also speaking to "Salazar", who saved Simmons' life after a guard shot him during an escape bid. "Salazar" revealed his dark side as he began discussing Simmons’ disfigured face, tormented upbringing and how attractive his victims had been.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Lecter
Thomas Harris has given few interviews, and did not explain where he got inspiration for Hannibal Lecter until mid 2013. Harris revealed that the character was inspired by a real-life Mexican doctor and murderer he met while visiting a prison in Monterrey city, in the state of Nuevo León, during a trip to Mexico in the 1960s, when he was a 23-year-old reporter.[35] The doctor was serving a life sentence for murdering a young man, supposedly a "close friend", mutilating his body into several body parts and putting them in a very small box. Harris, who would only refer to the surgeon by the fake name "Dr. Salazar", described him as a "small lithe pale man with dark red hair". He added: "There was certain intelligence and elegance about him."[36] Harris had gone to Mexico to interview Dykes Askew Simmons, a US citizen on death row for murdering three young people in the country, but he ended up also speaking to "Salazar", who saved Simmons' life after a guard shot him during an escape bid. "Salazar" revealed his dark side as he began discussing Simmons’ disfigured face, tormented upbringing and how attractive his victims had been.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Lecter

