New York City, US, Apr 2 (EFE).- American actor Val Kilmer, who rose to popularity after portraying singer Jim Morrison and the superhero Batman and starring in blockbuster films such as ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Tombstone,’ has died in Los Angeles at the age of 65, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
(FILE) – US actor Val Kilmer arrives on the Red Carpet at the Premiere of his new movie ‘Deja Vu’ in New York City, US, 20 November 2006 (reissued 02 April 2025). EFE-EPA/PETER FOLEY
His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer told the New York Times that the actor, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and recovered, died on Tuesday from pneumonia.
Kilmer took a while to admit – he didn’t do so until 2017- that he had cancer, but he stopped denying that he had the disease with an autobiographical documentary, ‘VAL,’ which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and offered unprecedented access to his health and personal life.
Born in Los Angeles, the charismatic actor was cast as a rocker several times early in his career.
According to the Times, he made his film debut in a humorous Cold War spy parody titled ‘Top Secret!’ (1984), in which he played a crowd-pleasing, hip-swinging American singer in Berlin, unwittingly involved in an East German plot to reunify the country.
His role as singer Jim Morrison, an icon of psychedelic music, in director Oliver Stone’s ‘The Doors’ (1991), was memorable, and he played Mentor – an Elvis Presley-like figure imagined by the film’s anti-hero protagonist, played by Christian Slater – in ‘True Romance’ (1993), a violent drug-fueled adventure story written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott.
He starred alongside Sam Shepard in ‘Thunderheart’ (1992), playing an FBI agent, and in ‘The Saint’ (1997), he played a stylish and cunning thief playing cat-and-mouse with the Russian mafia.
Perhaps his most famous role was the title role in ‘Batman Forever’ (1995).
In 1986, Tony Scott cast him in his first big-budget film, ‘Top Gun’ (1986), an adventure drama about Navy fighter pilots in training, in which he was the rival of the film’s star, Tom Cruise, with whom he would also star in the 2022 sequel, ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’
He played the urbane gunslinger Doc Holliday in ‘Tombstone’ (1993), a bloody western, alongside Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott, and Bill Paxton.
He was part of a gang of thieves in ‘Heat’ (1995), with an all-star cast that included Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and co-starred with Michael Douglas in ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’ (1996), a period piece about a lion hunt set in late 19th-century Africa.
In ‘Pollock’ (2000), starring Ed Harris as the painter Jackson Pollock, he played fellow artist Willem de Kooning.
He also played Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell), in Oliver Stone’s grandiose epic ‘Alexander’ (2004).
In 2003, he played porn star John Holmes in the film ‘Wonderland, and a year later, again under the direction of Oliver Stone, he filmed the historical war film Alexander the Great, in which he played Philip II of Macedon.
That same year, he also starred in the political thriller ‘Spartan.’
“Most actors recognize there’s something different in Val than meets the eye,” Stone said in a 2007 interview for a segment of the television series ‘Biography,’ The New York Times reported.
David Mamet, the playwright and screenwriter who directed Kilmer in the political thriller ‘Spartan’ (2004), added: “What Val has as an actor is something that the really, really great actors have, which is they make everything sound like an improvisation.”
Hollywood actors, directors, and producers paid tribute to the late actor.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker Michael Mann said, “While working with Val on Heat I always marveled 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.”
“RIP Val Kilmer. If it wasn’t for our chance encounter at the Source in 1985, I may never have been cast in FULL METAL JACKET. Thanks, Val,” actor Matthew Modine wrote on X.
For his part, actor Josh Brolin wrote on his Instagram profile: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
Also in an Instagram post, actor Josh Gad wrote: “RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon.” EFE
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