Val Kilmer, the versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in 1986’s Top Gun and Batman in 1995’s Batman Forever, has died.
He was 65.
Kilmer died Tuesday night (April 1) in Los Angeles surrounded by family and friends, his daughter Mercedes Kilmer said in an email to The New York Times.
Kilmer succumbed to pneumonia, his daughter told the outlet. The actor was previously diagnosed with throat cancer, which required two tracheotomies, in 2015 and later recovered.
Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1959, Val Kilmer made history by becoming the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School’s Drama Division in 1977 at 17. This became the start of his acting career.
“I had a unique experience because I just lost my little brother a week before I started school, he said in a talk at Juilliard in 2005.
He continued: “So, it was quite an emotional time for me, and in a way, the extremely high standards and the activity of the school I’m sure were good for me, because I was forced to really challenge myself about my very life, you know—what I believe about life and death.”
“For me, it was a great way to progress out of that difficult time, to be thrown into such a great school.”
Though Kilmer had a few roles on Broadway, his big-screen break came in the 1984 movie Top Secret!, which was written and directed by the comedy that created Airplane.
It wasn’t until two years later that the Golden Globe-nominated actor was launched into superstardom for his role as naval aviator Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in Top Gun, the highest-grossing movie of 1986.
Ironically, Kilmer had to be talked into playing the role of Iceman.
“I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” he wrote in his 2020 memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry. “My agent, who also represented Tom Cruise, basically tortured me into at least meeting Tony Scott.”
After gaining critical acclaim for his supporting role in Top Gum, Kilmer stepped into the spotlight as a leading man in Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie The Doors.
The actor also starred in 1990s hits True Romance, Heat, and famously replaced Michael Keaton in Batman Forever.
According to The Post, Kilmer accepted the role of Bruce Wayne’s alter ego without even reading a script.
“I was buzzed about being Batman but hardly for artistic reasons,” he wrote in his memoir. “With two franchises going—Batman and The Saint—I could start an artists’ community, write poetry and plays, and become the wild auteur I saw as my destiny.”
Kilmer later married actress Joanne Whalley after they met while working together on the film Willow. The couple had two children—Mercedes in 1991 and Jack in 1995—before divorcing in 1996.
In 2021, Kilmer shared his story in the documentary Val, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo. Produced alongside his kids, Mercedes and Jack, the film chronicled his challenging recovery from throat cancer and received a standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere.
“I have no regrets,” Kilmer said at the time. “I’ve witness and experienced miracles.”
