Another sad loss to cinema today, Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65. Known for movies like Top Gun, The Doors and Heat, to name only a few.
Kilmer died of pneumonia in LA, his daughter and wife told The New York Times. He was diagnosed with throat cancer back in 2015, which he had successful treatment for, but it left him with an electronic voice box to speak.
Kilmer was well loved by everyone he worked with and was a very versatile actor. He could play a leading man in movies like Batman Forever, The Saint, Top Secret!, Willow, The Doors and Real Genius. However, he would sometimes steal the show as a supporting actor, in movies like Tombstone, Top Gun, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Heat.
Michael Mann, director of Heat, said about Kilmer:
“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. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
Many others have been pouring out praise on Kilmer, as a great actor and a good friend.
Kilmer started his career in Top Secret! from the team that gave us Airplane. The movie bombed at the box office, but it is a brilliantly funny movie. If you haven’t seen it, you should have.
In 1985, he starred in Real Genius, as Chris Knight, a witty, sarcastic math genius who is tricked into making weapons of war. Again, this bombed at the box office, but gained a cult following on VHS.
Boom! Fame!
It was Top Gun that really put him on the map for most cinema goers. Kilmer played Ice Man, a by-the-book rival to Cruise’s Maverick. He reprised the role in 2022, and we saw how ill he had become because of the cancer.
Kilmer went on to have an amazing career, starring in Willow, alongside Warwick Davis. I found this video the other day, which made me smile.
Other roles include Jim Morrison in The Doors, John Henry ‘Doc’ Holliday in Tombstone and the mentor Elvis in True Romance. In 1995, he took on the mantle of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Forever and, in the same year, starred in Heat and The Island of Dr. Moreau.
His catalogue of movies just goes on and on: The Ghost in the Darkness, The Prince of Egypt, Red Planet, Alexander, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Déjà vu, MacGruber, Kill The Irishman. He also played the voice of K.I.T.T. in the 2008 revival of Knight Rider.
There was a recent documentary, Val, which was an intimate look into his life and his battle with cancer. It was narrated by his son, Jack.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends. What was your favourite Val Kilmer role?
