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Val Kilmer, the dynamic and enigmatic actor best known as Iceman in “Top Gun” and for leading man roles ranging from Batman to The Doors’ Jim Morrison, has died, according to sources. He was 65.
Kilmer died of pneumonia Tuesday night in Los Angeles, according to his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, who spoke with The New York Times and The Associated Press. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and eventually recovered, she added.
USA TODAY has contacted Kilmer’s reps for comment.
The actor had openly fought the cancer for most of the previous decade, irreversibly losing his voice due to a tracheotomy while continuing to perform and write.
Kilmer, a Juilliard School alumnus, was a magnetic presence in Hollywood after making his film debut in the 1984 Cold War espionage parody “Top Secret!”
The actor became a global success as Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, the brash rival-turned-wingman to Tom Cruise’s “Maverick” in Tony Scott’s 1986 movie “Top Gun.” Despite Scott’s strong lobbying efforts for Kilmer, the job almost never came to be.
But the tenacious young actor refused and attempted to sabotage his audition. “I did not want the part. I didn’t care about the movie. “The story did not interest me,” Kilmer wrote in his 2020 book “I’m Your Huckleberry.”
The onscreen friction between Cruise and Kilmer contributed to the film’s success as a need-for-speed fighter pilot and boosted both actors’ reputations.
Kilmer met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, in director Ron Howard’s 1988 film “Willow” while playing the witty swordsman Madmartigan. The two tied the knot later that year. Before their divorce in 1996, the couple had two children: daughter Mercedes (born 1991) and son Jack (born 1995).
Kilmer played rock singer Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie “The Doors,” where the meticulous actor sang all of Morrison’s songs. After Michael Keaton and before George Clooney, Kilmer donned the famous cape and cowl to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in 1995’s “Batman Forever,” facing Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey) in Gotham City.
He portrayed gunslinger Doc Holliday in 1993’s “Tombstone” and master thief Chris Shiherlis in filmmaker Michael Mann’s 1995 bank robbery movie “Heat,” co-starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
The production-troubled and turbulent 1996 thriller “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” in which Kilmer acted with Marlon Brando, proved to be a career turning point. In 1996, Entertainment Weekly headlined a cover article on Kilmer “The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate” due to his polarising image in Hollywood. Following the critical and economic failure of “Dr. Moreau,” Kilmer’s great career lost its leading man lustre.
Kilmer rose to prominence in indie films such as 2002’s “The Salton Sea” and 2003’s “Wonderland,” when he played the doomed ’70s porn star John Holmes. Kilmer received praise for his performance as no-nonsense private detective Gay Perry in the 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.But his major professional focus was extensively investigating Mark Twain’s persona: writing, directing, producing, and performing in the one-man stage play “Citizen Twain,” which he later transformed into a 2017 film.
In 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” Kilmer reprises his role as Admiral Kazansky in a brief but heartfelt encounter with Cruise, making it the sequel’s most moving moment. Kilmer, who was unconcerned about landing his “Top Gun” position after his first audition, begged Cruise, producers, and director Joseph Kosinski for the “Maverick” role more than three decades later.
“As the Temptations sung during the height of Motown soul, ‘Ain’t too proud to beg. The producers went for it, as did Cruise. Kilmer wrote in his memoirs.
Kilmer told USA TODAY in June 2022 that the two actors exchanged a farewell hug onscreen that was “straight from the heart.” “I love Tom. We’ve always gotten along well.
The sequence also included the two former aces humorously debating about who was a better pilot, as Iceman had won the Top Gun Trophy in the original film.
According to Kilmer, “One can always use a laugh,” USA TODAY said. “There can only be 1 Top Gun.”
Kilmer wrote of a remarkable encounter with an angel while on a vacation to New Mexico in “I’m Your Huckleberry,” which was called by his admiration of Twain and a passage from “Tombstone.”
Kilmer stated that the angel reached inside his body and withdrew his heart, replacing it with a larger one. “At first, I assumed it was the Angel of Death before realising it was the Angel of Life.” I wish I could explain the experience further than I have previously, but I can’t. “It just happened,” Kilmer wrote. “All I have to say about this is that I am glad for the new heart. It’s served me well. And I’ve only just started using it.
