Charismatic and versatile, he also won praise for memorable roles as Iceman in ‘Top Gun’ and Doc Holliday in ‘Tombstone,’ but his unpredictable behavior ruffled some feathers in Hollywood.
Val Kilmer, the charisma-oozing leading man who lost himself portraying such tormented, self-loathing characters as Jim Morrison, gunslinger Doc Holliday and Batman during his all-too-brief career, died Tuesday. He was 65.
Kilmer, who came to fame for playing the competitive naval aviator Tom “Iceman” Kazansky alongside Tom Cruise in Tony Scott’s 1986 mega box-office hit Top Gun, died of pneumonia in Los Angeles, his daughter, actress Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times.
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, and Val, a stirring documentary about his life that premiered at Cannes in July 2021, showed him needing a breathing tube.
His death was announced as the actor was meant to be arriving for a rare red carpet appearance at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on Tuesday night. “It was a shock to find this out. We had just confirmed Val to attend the west coast premiere of American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective this past weekend,” Nino Simone, founder and president of the Beverly Hills Film Festival, said on Wednesday.
Raised in the San Fernando Valley in the shadow of Hollywood, Kilmer also was known for his meaty performances as Robert De Niro’s nasty henchman in Michael Mann’s Heat (1995); as Marlon Brando’s insane assistant in John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996); as the suave crook Simon Templar in Phillip Noyce’s The Saint (1997); and as the homosexual detective Gay Perry in Shane Black’s tribute to film noir, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005).
Kilmer also impressively channeled Elvis Presley in Scott’s True Romance (1993), written by Quentin Tarantino, and porn star/cocaine addict John Holmes in Wonderland (2003).
He was married to British actress Joanne Whalley from 1988 until their divorce in 1996. They met while working together on Willow and wed months later.
