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Val Kilmer, known for playing Iceman in 1986’s Top Gun and Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever (1995), has died at the age of 65. The cause was stated to be pneumonia, with his daughter Mercedes revealing that he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered (per The New York Times).
The industry veteran had a good run with leading roles in the 1980s and 1990s, starring in Top Gun, Real Genius (1985), Tombstone (1993), Heat (1995), and The Saint (1997). He returned in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, but couldn’t speak due to his cancer; in the same year, a documentary on his life, Val, was also released.
Kilmer made his feature debut in 1984’s Top Secret!, a slapstick Cold War action comedy film, and was cast as a rocker several times in his early acting days. In 1995, he took over the Caped Crusader mantle from Michael Keaton and was replaced by George Clooney for Batman & Robin (1997) after the film received mixed reception.
The actor’s other notable movie credits, amid a time of dwindling roles due to his reputation as difficult and antagonistic, include The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), a horror outing based on an early novel by H.G. Wells; Wonderland (2003), a murder story based on a true crime in which he portrayed the pornography star John Holmes, and the Francis Ford Coppola-directed Twixt (2011).
Off the screen, Kilmer also lent his voice to animated projects like The Prince of Egypt (1998) and 2013’s Planes. He received a Grammy nomination in 2012 for Best Spoken Word for an audio production of Zorro, addressing his decade-long absence from mainstream Hollywood in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
“I don’t have any regrets…It’s an adage but it’s kind of true: Once you’re a star, you’re always a star. It’s just, at what level?”
Kilmer is survived by Mercedes and a son, Jack.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kaylyn Lim
