Val Kilmer, the Hollywood star whose credits included The Doors, Batman Forever, and Top Gun, has died. He was 65.
The actor’s daughter Mercedes Kilmer, by his ex-wife Joanne Whalley, told The New York Times he died of pneumonia.
Kilmer was born in Los Angeles on December 31, 1959, and eventually attended the prestigious The Juilliard School in New York, becoming at 17 the youngest actor ever to be admitted.
He performed on Broadway in The Slab Boys in 1983 alongside Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon and a year later landed his first film role in the spoof Top Secret!
Kilmer went on to play opposite Tom Cruise as the antagonist Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in Tony Scott’s 1986 action hit Top Gun.
Further culturally significant roles followed playing Jim Morrison in The Doors in 1991 and one stint as the Caped Crusader in Batman Forever. Credits include Heat, Willow, True Romance, The Salton Sea, Pollock, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Tombstone, and The Saint.
Kilmer was known to be difficult at times – although he argued he was demanding. On the 1996 flop The Island Of Dr. Moreau he butted heads with Marlon Brando and director John Frankenheimer, who vowed never to work with the actor again.
Later in life people who knew him well, like friend Robert Downey Jr., regarded him as eccentric.
Kilmer took some years away from acting and was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, from which his daughter said he recovered. His condition was clear to see in the well received 2021 documentary Val narrated by his son, Jack.
In a poignant coda to his acting career Kilmer reprised his role opposite Cruise in 2022 smash Top Gun: Maverick, as Admiral Kazansky.
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