Val Kilmer, an actor known for many roles in the 1980s and 1990s, has died. He was 65 years old.
He died from pneumonia in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday night, the Associated Press reported after receiving an email from the actor’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer.
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, undergoing intense medical procedures as treatment, including chemotherapy and multiple tracheotomies, and needing a tube to eat food. In the years before his death, he reportedly lost his full ability to speak and used AI technology to recreate his voice.
Kilmer was known for his roles as the brash, cocky naval pilot “Iceman” in the 1986 film Top Gun, Western gunslinger Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone, and the DC Comics superhero Batman and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, in the 1995 action film Batman Forever.
Kilmer’s career spanned five decades. His big break in movies came in 1984 when he starred in the comedy film Top Secret! He followed up his supporting actor role in Top Gun with the fantasy movie Willow as one of the male leads. Later, he was the male lead in the 1991 Oliver Stone biopic The Doors as singer Jim Morrison. Some of his other roles were in the hit movies Heat, The Saint, At First Sight, Alexander, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
He was one of the highest-paid actors in the 1990s and was lauded by film critic Roger Ebert in 1992.
“If there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it,” Ebert said.
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In his later years, Kilmer published a novel about his life and career, I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, named after his Tombstone character’s famous catchphrase. In 2021, he released a documentary film, Val, which detailed his career and the health challenges he faced later in life.
“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 documentary. “And I am blessed.”