​Val Kilmer, the star of ‘The Doors’ and ‘Batman Forever,’ dies at 65

Val Kilmer passed away Tuesday night at the age of 65. His final film showcased one of the strongest performances of his career—his return as pilot “Iceman” Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick. His character had a powerful presence, as Kilmer took part in the blockbuster despite having battled throat cancer, an illness that had kept him away from the industry for several years since 2014.

Chemotherapy and a tracheotomy affected the voice of an actor who had played Batman in the pre-Christopher Nolan era and was a major action star in the 1990s. Yet, despite his long illness, it was not cancer that took his life. His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed to The New York Times that he passed away in Los Angeles due to pneumonia.

Actors are fortunate to live many lives on screen. Kilmer became Jim Morrison for Oliver Stone in The Doors (1991), donned the cape as one of the more unconventional iterations of Batman in Batman Forever, and convincingly transformed into a master of disguise in The Saint, one of many action films that cemented his leading-man status in the 1990s.

His versatility extended to cult classics like True Romance, written by Quentin Tarantino, and Michael Mann’s Heat, as well as epic misfires like The Island of Dr. Moreau, where he shared the screen with Marlon Brando. Twice, he found himself at the top of the box office — first with Top Gun in 1986, and 36 years later with its long-awaited sequel, in 2022.

But it took stepping in front of a documentary camera to confront the legend of being “difficult” and a “temperamental diva” — a reputation he earned on set ever since his screen debut in 1984 with the spy satire Top Secret!. The documentary, simply titled Val, was released in 2021 and offers deep insights through thousands of hours of footage the actor recorded over four decades. “I’ve lived a magical life and captured quite a bit of it,” he says in the documentary.

“I healed quickly from the extensive radiation and chemotherapy, what followed has left my voice impaired,” Kilmer says softly in the documentary. “It’s difficult to talk and be understood.”

Produced by independent studio A24, Val was widely praised after its Cannes premiere for being an unfiltered self-portrait, stripped of Hollywood’s usual polish. It revealed the complexities of a fiery character hidden behind blond hair, blue eyes, and full lips. His face captivated a long list of women in Hollywood, including Cher, Cindy Crawford, and Joanne Whalley — his Willow co-star and first wife.

Kilmer, the son of a real estate developer and a homemaker, grew up filming stories and scenes with a 16mm camera. He was raised in Chatsworth, in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles — an area deeply influenced by the film industry. He attended school with Kevin Spacey and lived on the same street as Roy Rogers, the legendary singing cowboy.

Kilmer admitted that he was deeply affected by the death of his younger brother, Wesley, who drowned in a pool in 1977 while Kilmer was in high school. This left him with a deep trauma, which he often cited as an explanation for much of his volatile behavior. “I didn’t really get back to earth until about two or three years after my brother died,” he said.

After graduating, Kilmer set his sights on New York’s prestigious Juilliard School to train as an actor. He was accepted at just 17, becoming one of the youngest students ever admitted to its acting program. But he himself admitted that his early stage performances were poor. He was overly theatrical and excessively dramatic, as he acknowledges in I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, published a year before the documentary Val was released. Over time, he improved at Juilliard, ultimately graduating with the lead role in Shakespeare’s Richard III.

The title of his memoir was a nod to one of his obsessions. Val Kilmer admired, above all else, Mark Twain, the great architect of humor in American literature. Throughout his life, the actor was involved in various projects related to the writer. In 2019, he portrayed Twain in a monologue he wrote and directed himself, Citizen Twain. He later turned it into a film. For many years, he considered this performance “his best work” of his entire career.

Kilmer took the monologue on a tour of several cities across the United States, receiving positive reviews. However, his film career did not receive critical acclaim. He was never nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe. Instead, he received three Razzie nominations, an award recognizing the worst in the industry. Critics panned many of his performances, and often Kilmer’s own co-stars criticized the actor.

“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,” said Joel Schumacher after filming Batman Forever, where Kilmer faced off against Jim Carrey, who stole the film with his charisma as The Riddler.

One of his best performances was his role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), a dark comedy starring Robert Downey Jr., who was then working to revive his career after years of personal struggles. There was natural chemistry between them, and Kilmer came to consider Downey a “brother.” Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was released before Downey became the centerpiece of the Marvel universe. But while Downey was on the rise, Kilmer was in free fall.

“What happened to Val Kilmer?” became a frequently asked question in the early 2000s. The actor virtually disappeared from the screen for a number of reasons. His debts to the IRS forced him to sell his ranch in New Mexico, a place that had inspired him both as an artist and an amateur poet. Poor decisions by his representatives and publicists also contributed to the stagnation of his career. The final blow came with his throat cancer diagnosis in 2014. His triumphant return came in Top Gun: Maverick, alongside Tom Cruise and a fleet of supersonic jets.

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