Val Kilmer, the versatile actor known for iconic roles in “Top Gun,” “Batman Forever,” and “The Doors,” died Tuesday at age 65.
His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times that her father died of pneumonia on April 1. Kilmer had previously been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but had recovered after undergoing two tracheotomies.
“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” Kilmer said in his 2021 documentary “Val.” “And I am blessed.”
Kilmer’s final film appearance came in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” reprising his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky alongside Tom Cruise, who reflected on their reunion with emotion.
“I just want to say that was pretty emotional,” Cruise told Jimmy Kimmel about acting with Kilmer again. “I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again.”
Born in Los Angeles in 1959, Kilmer became the youngest person accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School’s Drama Group. His big-screen break came in the 1984 comedy “Top Secret!” followed by “Real Genius” in 1985, but it was his performance as Iceman in 1986’s “Top Gun” that launched him to stardom.
“It was fun,” Kilmer later told Larry King about working with Cruise on “Top Gun.” “My guy didn’t like him but it was fun to not like him.”
Despite the role’s importance to his career, Kilmer initially hesitated on accepting the move.
“I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.” He agreed after being promised his role would improve from the initial script.
Kilmer’s career peaked in the early 1990s with standout performances in films like “Tombstone” (1993), “True Romance,” and Michael Mann’s 1995 crime drama “Heat” alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
“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,” director Michael Mann said in a statement Tuesday night.
Known for his intense Method approach, Kilmer filled his bed with ice for the final scene in “Tombstone” to mimic the feeling of dying from tuberculosis. To play Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” he wore leather pants constantly, asked everyone to call him Jim, and blasted the band’s music for a year.
This dedication sometimes earned him a reputation for being difficult. Entertainment Weekly ran a 1996 cover story titled “The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate,” in which directors Joel Schumacher and John Frankenheimer criticized working with him. Frankenheimer famously said there were two things he would never do: “Climb Mount Everest and work with Val Kilmer again.”
Tragedy struck the Kilmer family in 1977 when Val’s younger brother Wesley, an aspiring filmmaker, drowned at age 15 after suffering an epileptic seizure in the family’s jacuzzi.
“He was a genius,” Kilmer told The New York Times in 2002. “I miss him and miss his things. I have his art up. I like to think about what he would have created. I’m still inspired by him.”
In his personal life, Kilmer dated Cher and married actress Joanne Whalley in 1988 after they met while working on “Willow.” The couple had two children — Mercedes in 1991 and Jack in 1995 — before divorcing in 1996.
“He’s such a layered person, there’s the childlike playfulness, but then there’s also the deep wisdom of somebody who’s been on a spiritual path their whole life at the same time,” Mercedes told PEOPLE of her father in 2021. “He’s a lot of opposites that make him incredibly interesting, and it’s kind of why our film is so interesting.”
Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of Kilmer’s, paid tribute on Instagram: “You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker.”
Kilmer worked steadily throughout his career, turning to visual art and poetry in his later years. He published two poetry collections and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for spoken word album.
“I have no regrets,” Kilmer told the Associated Press in 2021. “I’ve witnessed and experienced miracles.”