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50 free The Silence of the Lambs trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
46 free The Silence of the Lambs trivia questions with answers. Silence of the Lambs trivia for people who still hear that slurping noise. The quiz covers Jonathan Demme's 1991 film from casting (Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer said no; Gene Hackman nearly directed) through production in Pittsburgh, the goalie-mask maker, Hopkins's HAL-and-Capote voice, the score and the cult songs, to its clean sweep of the Big Five Oscars. It also digs into the story: Buffalo Bill's real-life inspirations, the death's-head moth, the 'Louis Friend' anagram, the Memphis escape and the lambs of Starling's childhood, then widens to the whole Lecter franchise: Thomas Harris's novels, Manhunter, Hannibal, Red Dragon, Hannibal Rising, the NBC series and Clarice. Stems avoid graphic detail, so it suits a movie-night quiz. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the films, novels, characters and cast, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01Who directed The Silence of the Lambs?
Jonathan Demme
He had just made Married to the Mob and went on to make Philadelphia; he won the Silver Bear for it in Berlin.
Q 02Who plays FBI trainee Clarice Starling?
Jodie Foster
Pfeiffer and Ryan both turned the part down; Foster won her second Best Actress Oscar for it.
Q 03Which actor did Demme first approach to play Hannibal Lecter before Anthony Hopkins?
Sean Connery
Hopkins was then offered it on the strength of The Elephant Man and thought the title sounded like a children's story.
Q 04Who was Demme's first choice for Clarice Starling?
Michelle Pfeiffer
They had just made Married to the Mob together; she said she 'got nervous about the subject matter'.
Q 05What did Hopkins reportedly ask his agent when told a script called The Silence of the Lambs was coming?
'Is it a children's story?'
Ten pages in he rang back to say it was the best part he had ever read.
Q 06Hopkins based Lecter's voice partly on HAL 9000 and on the vocal patterns of which writer?
Truman Capote
He denied basing the cadence on Katharine Hepburn or the unblinking stare on Charles Manson.
Q 07Who made Lecter's iconic restraint mask?
A maker of NHL goalie masks
Ed Cubberly of Frenchtown, New Jersey, normally kitted out hockey goalkeepers.
Q 08The Silence of the Lambs was only the third film to win the 'Big Five' Oscars. Which are they?
Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay
The other two are It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; it lost Sound and Editing to Terminator 2 and JFK.
Q 09The Silence of the Lambs remains the only film of which genre to win Best Picture?
Horror
It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and made $272.7 million on a $19 million budget.
Q 10Who wrote the 1988 novel the film is based on?
Thomas Harris
It was the sequel to his 1981 novel Red Dragon and won a major genre award.
Q 11Who wrote the Oscar-winning adapted screenplay?
Ted Tally
He got an advance copy of the book from Harris himself and later returned to write Red Dragon.
Q 12Which actor first partnered with Orion to direct and star in the adaptation, then withdrew?
Gene Hackman
His children wanted him to stop making violent films; he pulled out midway through the first draft.
Q 13Which studio released the film on Valentine's Day 1991?
Orion Pictures
It opened at number one and stayed there for five weeks.
Where was the film mainly shot?
Q 21What does Lecter use to unlock his handcuffs during his escape?
Part of Chilton's pen
He then leaves in an ambulance disguised in a dead guard's uniform.
Q 22What is the name of the hospital director who records Starling's conversation with Lecter?
Dr. Frederick Chilton
Lecter's final line, 'having an old friend for dinner', is aimed squarely at him.
Q 23Who plays Jack Crawford, head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit?
Scott Glenn
Real profiler John E. Douglas gave him a tour of Quantico and played him tapes that reportedly changed his view on the death penalty.
Around Pittsburgh
Buffalo Bill's house is a real Victorian home in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, that later sold for $195,000.
Q 15What is Buffalo Bill's real name in the story?
Jame Gumb
'Jack Gordon' is the alias he gives Starling; Dolarhyde is Red Dragon's killer.
Q 16Which real killer's habit of feigning injury with an arm brace did Harris borrow for Buffalo Bill?
Ted Bundy
Gein's skin 'suit' and Heidnik's basement pit supplied the other elements.
Q 17Which real criminal's basement pit inspired the design of Buffalo Bill's well?
Gary M. Heidnik
He held six women prisoner in a Philadelphia pit in the 1980s.
Q 18What kind of insect does Buffalo Bill leave in his victims' throats?
A death's-head moth
The pupae are imported from Suriname; the moth's thorax bears a skull-like marking.
Q 19Lecter's false name for the killer, 'Louis Friend', is an anagram of what?
Iron sulfide
Iron sulfide is fool's gold, Lecter's way of telling Starling the tip was worthless.
Q 20Which US city is Lecter transferred to, where he escapes from a courthouse cell?
Memphis
Chilton arranged the transfer as a reward for information given to Senator Ruth Martin.
Q 24Starling's childhood trauma, which gives the film its title, took place on a farm in which state?
Montana
After her father's death she lived with relatives there and failed to save spring lambs from slaughter.
Q 25What was the profession of Starling's late dad, murdered when she was ten?
Police officer
He was murdered when she was ten, leaving her orphaned, as she tells Lecter in their quid pro quo.
Q 26How does Buffalo Bill stalk Starling in the film's climax?
With night-vision goggles
He gives himself away by cocking his revolver, and she fires at the sound.
Q 27Buffalo Bill's first victim, whose home gives Starling the breakthrough, worked as what?
A tailor
Frederika Bimmel's unfinished dresses matched the patches of skin removed from later victims.
Q 28Which cult song plays during Buffalo Bill's infamous mirror scene?
'Goodbye Horses' by Q Lazzarus
'Hip Priest' plays as Starling enters the house; both are post-punk cuts chosen alongside Howard Shore's score.
Q 29Who composed the film's score, recorded by the Munich Symphony Orchestra?
Howard Shore
He also scored Demme's Philadelphia and later The Lord of the Rings.
Q 30Lecter's famous line about a census taker mentions liver, fava beans and what?
A nice Chianti
AFI ranked it the 21st greatest movie quote of all time.