12 Real People Who Appear in Monster: The Ed Gein Story (and Whether They Were Actually Connected to the Serial Killer)

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most famous movie directors in Hollywood history.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Tom Hollander, known for his roles in Pride & Prejudice and The White Lotus, portrays the filmmaker.

Known as the “Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock directed dozens of classic films, including Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest and The Birds.

In 1960, he changed cinema forever when he released his horror masterpiece, Psycho, based on the book by Robert Bloch.

Afterward, Hitchcock continued making movies for nearly two more decades, his last being 1976’s Family Plot.

He died at age 80 on April 29, 1980, after his health had declined, per The New York Times.

Alma Reville

Alma Reville was Hitchcock’s wife; the two were married from 1926 until the director died in 1980.

Reville was a screenwriter and editor who collaborated with Hitchcock. She wrote the screenplays for several of her husband’s films, such as Shadow of a Doubt and Suspicion.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Olivia Williams plays Reville, who is critical of Psycho, including the kind of impact the movie would have.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reville “was a constant presence” on the set of Psycho and was “crucial” in making decisions about the film’s story.

Prior to Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Reville’s role in Hitchcock’s filmmaking was explored in the 2012 film, Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous director and Helen Mirren as Reville.

Reville died at 82 on July 6, 1982.

Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins was already an Oscar-nominated actor when he played Norman Bates in Psycho, but it was his performance in the 1960 thriller cemented him as a horror movie icon.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Joey Pollari portrays Perkins, an actor who struggles with his sexuality and his secret relationship with fellow actor Tab Hunter. Perkins reportedly underwent electroshock therapy, per The Sunday Times.

Perkins died at 60 of AIDS-related complications on Sept. 12, 1992. Today, his horror legacy lives on with his son Oz Perkins, who recently directed Longlegs and The Monkey.

Tab Hunter

Tab Hunter was one of the biggest Hollywood heartthrobs in the 1950s, but he led a secret double life as a closeted gay man.

Jackie Kay plays Hunter in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, and the series shows the actor as someone who isn’t thrilled that his boyfriend, Perkins, was cast as the murderous Bates.

According to The New Yorker, Hunter and Perkins met at the pool at the Chateau Marmont in 1956 and dated for three years.

Following his teen heartthrob days, Hunter had a career renaissance in the 1980s thanks to camp classics like Grease 2, Lust in the Dust and Polyester.

In 2005, he released his best-selling memoir, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, which was turned into a 2015 documentary.

The actor died at age 86 on July 8, 2018.

Robert Bloch

Ethan Sandler portrays Bloch, the author of the 1959 book Psycho, which inspired the 1960 movie.

When Gein was arrested in 1957 in Plainfield, Wis., Bloch was living in Weyauwega, Wis., only 35 miles away, according to the Galaxy Press. Shortly after, Bloch began working on Psycho and found it eerie how similar Gein and Bates were, despite not knowing much about the former.

“I’d discovered how closely the imaginary character I’d created resembled the real Ed Gein both in overt act and apparent motivation,” he said, per Galaxy Press.

The novel was released in 1960 and was followed by two sequels: 1982’s Psycho II and 1990’s Psycho House.

According to the Associated Press (via The Roanoke Times), the author had written 400 short stories and “more than 20 novels” at the time of his death on Sept. 23, 1994, at age 77.

Ilse Koch

Vicky Krieps plays Ilse Koch, known as the “Witch of Buchenwald.”

Koch’s husband, Karl Otto Koch, was the Nazi commander of the Buchenwald concentration camp, where tens of thousands of prisoners died during World War II, according to The New York Times.

During her postwar trial, Koch was accused of using the skin of prisoners to make a variety of objects, including a lampshade and bookbindings.

Although the most disturbing charges couldn’t be proven, Koch was still sentenced to life in prison, but her sentence was reduced, and she was released on Oct. 17, 1949, per Britannica.

That said, Koch was arrested the same day, charged with abusing German citizens during the war. She was sentenced again to life in prison, where she died by suicide on Sept. 1, 1967.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Gein is inspired by Koch’s horrific acts, but according to Biography, he never mentioned her, so it is unknown if she influenced him.

Christine Jorgensen

Alanna Darby portrays Christine Jorgensen, who became a trailblazing LGBTQ+ icon in the 1950s, when she made headlines as one of the first Americans to undergo gender confirmation surgery.

In the PBS 2023 documentary (Trans)formation: The Story of Christine Jorgensen, professor and historian Susan Stryker said Jorgensen was responsible for bringing “what we now call ‘transgender’ to the attention of a global audience. She was literally the biggest story on the planet in 1952.”

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Jorgensen is an idol of Gein’s, and he communicates with her through a pair of ham radios. The series depicts him as a fan of Jorgensen, but there’s no evidence that Gein was actually an admirer of hers in real life.

Over the course of her life, Jorgensen became a singer, nightclub performer and public speaker. She died at 62 from bladder and lung cancer on May 3, 1989, per The New York Times.

Tobe Hooper

Will Brill plays Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, whose main antagonist, Leatherface, was inspired by Gein.

According to The Flashback Files, as a child, Hooper was told stories about Gein from relatives who lived in Wisconsin. While Hooper didn’t know the serial killer’s name, he thought of Gein as “a real boogeyman.”

In addition to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hooper helmed another horror classic, Poltergeist, and expanded Leatherface’s lore when he returned to direct The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

He died on Aug. 26, 2017, at age 74.

Richard Speck

Richard Speck, a.k.a. the Birdman, is portrayed by Tobias Jelinek.

Speck was a real mass murderer who killed eight nursing students in Chicago in 1966, CBS reported.

Shortly after the murders, Speck was arrested and received a death penalty sentence, but was later commuted to a 400-year prison sentence, per NBC.

He died of a heart attack in prison on Dec. 5, 1991, one day before his 50th birthday.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Speck worships Gein and writes him letters, but there is no evidence that the two communicated.

Charles Manson

John Drea plays one of the most notorious killers in American history, Charles Manson.

In 1969, the cult leader and his followers went on a murder spree, killing at least nine people, including actress Sharon Tate.

Drea’s Manson appears in a fantasy sequence in the final episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, saying he’s “a big fan” of Gein’s.

Manson was serving nine life sentences in prison at the time of his death on Nov. 19, 2017, at age 83.

Ed Kemper

Jeffrey Murdoch portrays Ed Kemper, a serial killer who murdered 10 people, including his own grandparents and mother, according to The New York Times.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Kemper also joins Manson, briefly appearing in Gein’s dream sequence, where he tells Gein he’s “very much a role model” to him.

Kemper was arrested on April 23, 1973, and has been incarcerated for over 50 years.

Jerry Brudos

Happy Anderson plays serial killer Jerry Brudos, who was known as the “Shoe Fetish Slayer” due to his obsession with women’s feet.

According to Biography, he murdered four women in the late 1960s. He engaged in necrophilia and kept some body parts of his victims.

Brudos was arrested in 1969 and died in prison on March 28, 2006, at age 67, per the Statesman Journal.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Brudos also appears in Gein’s dream, as a fan of the murderer.