Val Kilmer, one of the most popular actors in the 80s and 90s, who portrayed Batman, Jim Morrison, and appeared in both “Top Gun” movies, died at the age of 65, as confirmed by his daughter Mercedes to the New York Times.
The cause of death was pneumonia. The actor had throat cancer in 2014 from which he had recovered.
What were Val Kilmer’s main movies?
He was born in California in 1959 and had his first success with “Top Secret”, one of the best comedies made by the trio “ZAZ” of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker. He played and sang the songs of the main character, “Nick Rivers.”
Fame came to him as “Iceman”, the antagonist of “Maverick” (Tom Cruise) in “Top Gun”.
Years later, on the set of “Willow”, he met his future wife Joanne Whalley.
One of his most memorable roles came in 1991 when he played none other than Jim Morrison in the movie “The Doors,” directed by Oliver Stone. Kilmer memorized all the songs of the famous group and for almost a year wore the same clothes as Morrison, who died in 1971 at just 27 years old.
With a lot of fame and many critics, in 1995 he played “Batman” in the controversial film by Michael Schumacher and in the same year he had a supporting role in the acclaimed crime drama “Heat”, directed by Michael Mann with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the lead roles.
The reunion with Tom Cruise in the new “Top Gun”
With Tom Cruise’s insistence, Val Kilmer had a brief but very memorable appearance in “Top Gun: Maverick,” once again as “Iceman,” but now as an admiral.
Due to his voice problems from throat cancer, the character played by Kilmer had similar complications in communicating.
“It was very, very emotional,” Tom Cruise confessed on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on ABC, and then added: “I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to play that character again... he is such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again... I was crying, I got emotional.”
Kilmer had two children, Mercedes and Jack, and in 2021 they produced “Val”, a documentary about his life based on decades of archival material.