American actor Val Kilmer has died aged 65 from pneumonia, according to his daughter Mercedes Kilmer.
Kilmer passed away on Tuesday night in Los Angeles surrounded by family and friends.
“See ya, pal. I'm going to miss you", American actor Josh Brolin wrote alongside a picture of himself and Kilmer on Instagram. "You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There's not a lot left of those", he added.
Best known for his roles as Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in Top Gun, Bruce Wayne / Batman in Batman Forever, Jim Morrison in The Doors and Perry Van Shrike in the underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Kilmer had previously survived a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.
Born Val Edward Kilmer on 31 December 1959, Kilmer grew up in a middle-class family in Los Angeles.
Aged 17, he became the then-youngest pupil to enrol at the prestigious Julliard School in New York.
He starred in 1984's spy spoof Top Secret! followed by the comedy Real Genius in 1985. His earned his big break in 1986 with his iconic performance opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun and playing Madmartigan in the now-iconic 1988 adventure film Willow.
In 1991, he took on the role of the legendary Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, a biopic based on the band. According to director Oliver Stone, Kilmer recorded an eight-minute audition tape to convince Stone to hire him, then lost weight and spent six months training to sing by recording his own voice on the original Doors tapes for the film.
Famously difficult to work with, the actor was known for throwing himself into his roles, subscribing to the Method branch of Suzuki arts training. When playing Morrison, he wore leather pants and asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as "Jim" throughout the duration of filming.
In 1995, Kilmer starred as Bruce Wayne / Batman in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever, taking over the role from Michael Keaton. While less critically acclaimed than Tim Burton’s first two Batman films – Batman and Batman Returns – Batman Forever has gained the reputation over time as an underrated Caped Crusader adventure and a camp classic in some circles.
His other major roles in the 90s include the iconic crime thriller Heat alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, the Western Tombstone, and playing Elvis’ ghost in True Romance.
He also filled the Roger Moore role in the 1997 film remake of TV series The Saint, and starred with Marlon Brando in doomed adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Dr Moreau.”
The production was notoriously difficult, marred by issues with the cast, harsh weather and a skyrocketing budget. The antipathy between Brando and Kilmer rapidly escalated into open hostility, and director John Frankenheimer and Kilmer had a heated argument on-set, which led Frankenheimer to state: "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again"
Regarding his reputation, Kilmer defended himself by emphasising that art should come before commerce.
“In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honour the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad of Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.”
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, losing his voice in the process from complications during a tracheotomy. This curtailed his acting career, but he reprised his role as Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. This was his final role on the big screen.
In 2021, Kilmer released a documentary chronicling the highs and lows of his life and career. The film, Val, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and features 40 years of home recordings.
“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,” the actor says in Val. “And I am blessed.”
He is survived by his former wife Joanne Whalley and their two children, Mercedes and Jack.
