Val Kilmer has died from pnemonia at the age of 65.
Fellow actors and directors paid tribute to the Top Gun and Batman Forever star, who became a heart-throb in the Eighties. Kilmer's daughter Mercedes confirmed the news to the New York Times, noting that he had earlier recovered from his 2014 throat diagnosis. A tracheotomy related to his cancer treatment affected his voice and hit his career, although he reprised his role as Top Gun's Iceman in Tom Cruise's sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Kilmer also received critical acclaim for playing frontman Jim Morrison in The Doors, his role as Doc Holliday in Western, Tombstone and his strong support in Michael Mann's crime drama Heat.
Mann paid tribute to Kilmer on Instagram, saying: "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."
His friend Josh Brolin also posted on Instagram: "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."
Matthew Modine wrote on X: “RIP Val Kilmer,” Modine wrote on X. “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.”
He was making reference to an encounter he recently revealed to Hollywood Reporter in which he first met Kilmer - a conversation that led to one of the key roles in his career. He told HR that Kilmer told him, "I’m sick of you. I’m tired of you getting all the jobs in town, and now you’re doing Full Metal Jacket," which came as a shock since Modine had not even auditioned for the role.
As a result, he had his agent make inquiries about it which led to Modine's romance Vision Quest being sent to Full Metal Jacket director Stanley Kubrick. Modine went on to play the lead in the Vietnam War film.
Will Kemp, who featured in Renny Harlin's Mindhunters alongside Kilmer, wrote on X: "Sad news of the passing of Val Kilmer. My first film job “Mindhunters” was with him. So many great memories of working with him. He was fun, unpredictable, generous and overall very kind to me when I was very new to the job."
Kilmer was born in LA and, when he was 17, became the youngest person - at that time - to enroll at New York's Julliard drama school. He was a lifelong Christian Scientist like his parents.
His film debut came in spy spoof Top Secret!, with other notable roles including fantasy drama Willow, and as thief-for-hire Simon Templar in the 1997 film version of The Saint.
In 2021 he talked about his life and career in Ting Poo and Leo Scott's documentary Val, which premiered in Cannes.
Jennifer Tilly - who had an uncredited role in The Doors - also recalled meeting Kilmer. She wrote on X: “A long time ago, I was auditioning for the movie The Doors It was kind of a cattle call. They paired together potential Jims with potential Pamela‘s. And they were running behind so we were spilling out of the casting office, sitting on the porch, the lawn, and the driveway. All of a sudden, a sixties convertible came screeching up, blaring Doors Music at top volume. And a guy jumped out and strode inside: He had wild hair and he was barefoot, shirtless, and wearing nothing but a pair of tight leather pants.
"We all looked at each other like… Who is this guy? We were more than a little shook by the sheer audacity of his entrance. Well of course it was Val Kilmer and from that minute on, nobody else stood a chance. RIP King."
- Read more reviews of films starring Val Kilmer
