Val Kilmer Dies at 65
Val Kilmer, whose career included many hits including Top Gun, The Doors, and Tombstone, has died. He was 65.
His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed his passing to The New York Times and said the cause of death was due to pneumonia. The actor had a notable battle with throat cancer beginning in 2014, but he recovered.
Kilmer’s career spanned five decades beginning with 1984’s Top Secret!. His final acting credit was in the 2022 box office smash Top Gun: Maverick, where he reprised the role of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky from the original 1986 Top Gun.
During a Feb. 2023 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Tom Cruise opened up about working with Kilmer again on Top Gun: Maverick and shared a clip from the film featuring both of them together. Cruise said, “I just want to say that was pretty emotional. 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. You’re just looking at Iceman.”
Kimmel playfully asked Cruise about the scene that was shown, “Did you cry when you guys shot that or was it just me?” Cruise laughed and responded, “I was crying, I was crying. I got emotional. He’s such a brilliant actor and I love his work.”
Kilmer’s work featured a number of acclaimed performances and major hits. The ’90s saw Kilmer enter “leading man” territory thanks to performances in 1993’s Tombstone as Doc Holliday and True Romance as Mentor, 1995’s Heat at Chris Shiherlis, 1997’s The Saint as Simon Templar, and his incredible turn as Jim Morrison in 1991’s The Doors.
Other notable credits include 1999’s At First Sight, 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 2010’s MacGruber, and 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
In 2021, Prime Video released the documentary Val. The film is comprised of home movies and other behind-the-scenes footage of Kilmer over the course of 40 years.
In the trailer, a voiceover as Kilmer says, “I was the first guy I knew to own a video camera. I have thousands of hours of videotapes and film reels that I’ve shot throughout my life and career. I was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. I’m still recovering, and it is difficult to talk and to be understood, but I want to tell my story more than ever.”
