Frederick Chilton

Chilton taunts Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

Dr. Frederick Chilton is a fictional character appearing in Thomas Harris' novels Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs.

In the novels

Red Dragon

Chilton is first introduced in Red Dragon as the pompous, incompetent director of a sanitarium near Baltimore, Maryland, acting as the jailer for the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. When FBI profiler Will Graham goes to Lecter for advice on capturing another serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde, Chilton makes an unwelcome attempt to question Graham about Lecter's psyche. When Dolarhyde learns of Graham's visits with Lecter, the two killers attempt to correspond through the classifieds of a tabloid; a cleaning crew finds one of Dolarhyde's letters, hidden within Lecter's toilet paper spool. Chilton informs Graham and his partner, Jack Crawford, of the discovery. Lecter's reply is intercepted and revealed to contain Graham's home address, which Dolarhyde uses to track down Graham in the novel's climax.

The Silence of the Lambs

In The Silence of the Lambs, Chilton allows an FBI trainee, Clarice Starling, to interview Lecter about another serial killer, "Buffalo Bill"; he makes a clumsy pass at Starling at their first meeting, but is quickly rejected. Chilton gradually grows jealous of Lecter's willingness to share information with Starling rather than him, eventually using a recording device to eavesdrop on their interviews. From this, he learns of Crawford's offer to transfer Lecter to a better prison facility in exchange for Buffalo Bill's identity. Chilton learns that the offer is false but sets it up anyway, quickly hogging the spotlight as the plan's architect. Lecter is transferred, but gives false information; he claims that the killer's name is "Billy Rubin," a reference to bilirubin, a pigment found in feces — and the exact shade of Chilton's hair. However, Lecter gives Starling the real information needed to track down Buffalo Bill. Afterwards, Lecter makes a bloody escape from custody after using a piece of Chilton's stolen pen to unlock his handcuffs. He later sends a letter to Chilton while on the run, promising gruesome vengeance. The film version ends with Hannibal, on the lam in a tropical location, telling Starling on the phone that he is "having an old friend for dinner" before hanging up and casually walking behind Chilton as the credits roll.

Hannibal

Chilton does not appear in Hannibal; the hospital has been shut down by the time the novel's events take place. Hannibal mentions that Chilton disappeared while on vacation in Jamaica seven years earlier. It is strongly suggested that he was killed by Lecter.

In other media

In Manhunter, the first film adaptation of Red Dragon, Chilton is played by Benjamin Hendrickson. In both The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, he is played by Anthony Heald.

The films portray Chilton in the same manner as the novels, though some scenes with the character are altered in their adaptations. The Silence of the Lambs especially goes into detail about his ultimate fate. While the novel leaves Chilton's demise at the hands of Lecter an open question, the ending of the film shows Lecter sitting in a small cafe, contacting Starling to tell her that "I'm having an old friend for dinner." He then proceeds to follow Chilton through a small Caribbean village as the credits roll.