Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected forensic psychiatrist; after his incarceration, he is consulted by FBI agents Will Graham and Clarice Starling to help them find other serial killers. Lecter first appeared in a small role as a villain in Harris' 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon, which was adapted into the film Manhunter, with Brian Cox as Lecter. Lecter had a larger role in The Silence of the Lambs; the 1991 film adaptation starred Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hopkins reprised the role for the 2001 adaptation of the 1999 novel Hannibal, which sees Lecter evading recapture, and for a second adaptation of Red Dragon in 2002. The fourth novel, Hannibal Rising, explores Lecter's childhood and development into a serial killer. He was played in the 2007 film adaptation by Gaspard Ulliel.
