Leatherface is a fictional character from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. He first appeared in 1974 as the mentally disabled member of a family of deranged cannibals, featuring his now iconic face mask and chainsaw. Leatherface was partically inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein and serial killer Elmer Wayne Henley. He appeared in all nine films of the series.
One of the scariest movies al all time, the first movie was banned in several countries and even had some theaters stop the movie due to complaints about violence.
A total of more than 85 people are supposedly killed according to these body count lists. Despite the high amount of deaths and Leatherface being the central killer, he is only responsible for about 31 of the deaths in the entire series (and two of the above deaths are of his character).
Unique among horror villains, in which most antagonists of the genre are usually classified as sadistic or evil; Leatherface is characterized as committing his brutal acts as a means of following his family’s orders, while also killing out of fear.

Leatherface and his family, former slaughterhouse workers, capture and murder a group of teenagers one-by-one as they trespass upon their property. In the end, the sole survivor Sally Hardesty, escapes as Leatherface angrily swings his chainsaw in the blazing sun.
In the 2nd movie, the plot follows a radio host victimized and captured by Leatherface and his cannibalistic family, while a former Texas Marshal hunts them down.
He is also extremely mentally ill. He does not talk that much, though he does make vocal sounds.
One of the defining characteristics of Leatherface, depicted throughout the entirety of the series, has been his iconic face mask. As with the character’s real-life inspiration, Ed Gein, Leatherface wears masks made from the faces of his victims.
Leatherface and most of his family are seemingly killed when a grenade recovered from the Hitchhiker’s preserved corpse goes off prematurely.
So where did the chainsaw idea come from? Tobe Hooper, the director, said that he was in a Montgomery Ward store a few days before Christmas. The store was annoyingly crowded with aggressive shoppers. As he stood in front of the chainsaws he had a disturbing epiphany. He realized that if he started up one of those chainsaws the sound alone would part that sea of shoppers giving him a quick path to the exit. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how iconic art is born.
To read about the real leatherface killer, Ed Gein click here.