Val Kilmer Dead At 65

Val Kilmer, star of Top Gun, Batman Forever, Willow and countless other films, has died at the age of 65.

Kilmer died of pneumonia on Tuesday in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told US media. She said her father had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered. (via BBC)

Tracheotomy surgery affected his voice and curtailed his acting career, but he returned to the screen to reprise his role as fighter pilot Iceman alongside Tom Cruise in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick.

He made his film debut in 1984’s Top Secret! with the famous ZAZ (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, who also created The Naked Gun and Airplane) and went on to star in Ron Howard’s Willow, True Romance, Thunderheart and The Real McCoy.

His biggest high-profile roles at the time were perhaps portraying Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors and playing Batman/Bruce Wayne in 1995’s Batman Forever, where he took over from Michael Keaton in Joel Schumacher’s film opposite Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman.

Also, he portrayed Doc Holliday in Tombstone and opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s Heat. Later, he starred in a big-screen adaptation of The Saint; The Island of Dr Moreau alongside Marlon Brando, Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang opposite Robert Downey Jnr, as well as Alexander, and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans with Nicholas Cage.

For many, its his role in 1986’s Top Gun as “Iceman” opposite Tom Cruise, a role he would reprise in the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, which would turn out to be his final appearance on the big screen.

Heat director Michael Mann lead tributes to Kilmer, saying said: “While working with Val on Heat I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character… After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news,” Mann wrote on Instagram, external.

Actor Josh Gad posted: “RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon.”

“See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you”, US actor Josh Brolin wrote alongside a picture of himself and Kilmer on Instagram., external

“You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those”, he added.

Actor James Woods wrote, external: “His rendition of Doc Holliday in Tombstone was what every actor dreams of achieving. So many wonderful performances. Sad to lose him so soon.”