Movie star Val Kilmer, who broke a charismatic turn as Jim Morrison, became one of the men who play Batman on the silver screen, and died in Los Angeles on Tuesday. New York Times Confirmed.
The cause of death was pneumonia. He had been struggling with throat cancer since 2014, but his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed that he had recovered from the fight.
He was 65 years old.
The actor often felt hampered by his good looks – which propelled him to a series of memorable hits and miss main roles – established himself as a talented performer who was skilled in retreating into his role.
In 2020, Kilmer spoke after years of rumors about the extent of his illness. New York Times About his work, his reputation for being difficult on set, and his history of attracting attention to his old “Top Gun” co-star Tom Cruise.
In the film he was revealed to be as enigmatic as the screen’s existence, but by then he had settled on an actor who had been as widely praised as the subject of gossip.
Before his first film came out, he was already on the tabloids – dating superstar Cher. meanwhile 2024 interview on “The Howard Stern Show”; Cher admitted that two years later he was one of the few men to break up with her. “Look, I was in crazy love with Val Kilmer and he left… because sometimes you were meant to be with someone for a long time.”
Their 13-year age difference also played a role.
Kilmer was born on the Great Veve of 1959 in Chatsworth outside Los Angeles, 17, and became the youngest person ever to be recognized in Juilliard’s drama category. Meanwhile, his play How It All Started (1981) was produced by Joseph Papp for the Public Theater and soon made his Broadway debut with The Slab Boys (1983) alongside Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.
Kilmer made her film debut as a teenage idol in Jim Abrahams David Zucker Zucker’s comedy Top Secret! 1984. He followed it alongside director Martha Coolidge’s teen comedy, Real Gnius (1985), and fondly recalls the special special of ABC After School, called “One Too Many” (1985) about teenage drinking.
In 1986 he played Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in “Top Gun” directed by Tony Scott.
He continued to pinned the fantasy film Willow (1988) for Ron Howard.
In 1991 he worked on one of the most challenging roles, playing singer Jim Morrison, who died in the Oliver Stone biopic The Doors. He earned excellent reviews and with months of preparation and attention, he recorded new vocals that were skillfully blended, even if the film itself had sharply split the critics.
He performed the three of them in Elvis (1993) in Neo Classic Western “Tombstone” (1993) and “True Romance” (1993).
“Batman Forever” was a huge box office gross, but Kilmer, who had accepted the role without reading the script, was put off by his sense of empty roles in a massive mainstream film. He resigned from “Batman and Robin” (1997), narrowly shunning what is generally considered to be one of the worst superhero movies of all time.
Kilmer worked quietly, even tirelessly, joining Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in “Heat” (1995), with Marlon Brando in the flop “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (1996), with Michael Douglas in “The Ghost and the Darkness” (1996), as smooth crook Simon Templar in the big-screen adaptation of “The Saint” (1997), and voicing Moses and God in the DreamWorks animated film “The Prince of Egypt” (1998).
Going forward, Kilmer began to separate himself from playing heartfelt leads, involving interesting performances in a variety of films, such as Pollock (2000), playing the artist Willem de Kooning. “Wonderland” (2003), as the villain porn icon John Holmes in the infamous murder story. He then joins Brad Pitt for Oliver Stone’s “Alexander” (2004).
He is very prolific and sometimes seen in five, six or seven films, and was released directly by animals in 2018, but was severely late when he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
In 2021, Kilmer was the subject of “Val,” a documentary about himself, perhaps the most interesting character of his career. It captured his work, including his life and his cancer struggle, and received outstanding reviews.
As a proper carrier capper, Kilmer created something nostalgic as the iceman for 2022 “Top Gun: Maverick.” Unlike the first film in the series, this was universally acclaimed and stolen an Oscar nomination.
Kilmer married British actress Joanne Holy, a co-star in his “Willow” between 1988 and 1996. He was survived by the actor’s son, Jack Kilmer and the daughter of his actress producer, Mercedes Kilmer.
