Val Kilmer, Batman actor, dead at 65

Val Kilmer, the Hollywood film star who starred in “Top Gun” and “Batman Forever,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to the New York Times. 

He was 65.

Kilmer succumbed to pneumonia, his daughter Mercedes told the outlet. He was diagnosed with throat cancer, which required two tracheotomies, in 2014 and later recovered.

The Los Angeles native made his film debut as rock star Nick Rivers in the 1984 movie “Top Secret!” Which was written and directed by the comedy team that created “Airplane.”

It wasn’t until two years later that Kilmer was launched into superstardom for his role as Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in Top Gun, the highest-grossing movie of 1986.

Kilmer played the rival of Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Ironically, Kilmer had to be talked into doing the movie.

“I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” Kilmer 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.”

He was praised for his role as Jim Morrison in the 1991 biopic “The Doors” about the music icon, in which he performed his own singing.

“There were challenges, particularly when he started to lose it, which was a whiskey deterioration in the throat,” he said in a 1991 interview with Bobbie Wygant.

Kilmer also starred in 1990s hits “True Romance,” “Heat” and famously replaced Michael Keaton as Gotham’s Caped Crusader in “Batman Forever.”

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,” Kilmer later 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 would become unhappy about wearing the heavy suit but could later joke about the 1995 movie saying, “I mean, it’s so bad, it’s almost good.”

He also starred with Marlon Brando on “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” a science-fiction horror film famous for being plagued by production issues.

Kilmer, who replaced Bruce Willis, reportedly feuded with Brando and director John Frankenheimer on set.

“John Frankenheimer went on to blame me publicly for ruining the movie,” Kilmer wrote in his memoir. “I always thought it an odd thing to try to do, blame me for his failure to make an entertaining film, because my character dies halfway through, and the last half of the film sucks as bad as the first.”

Though he had a reputation as difficult, Mira Sorvino, his co-star in the 1999 romance film “At First Sight,” said he was easy to work with.

“I just hate furthering rumors about people being difficult, because it can do such enormous damage to their careers,” she told AV Club in 2011. “My experience with him was nothing but positive. He was really professional and gentlemanly, and a terrific actor.

For his work in the 2005 crime comedy “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” Kilmer won a Satellite Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

In 2015, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer, which would take away his ability to speak due to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. He appeared in 12 projects after his diagnosis.

Kilmer reprised his role as Kazansky in the 2022 blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick,” sharing a scene with his on-screen rival-turned-confidante in his final movie role. 

“I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character — he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman,” Cruise said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “I was crying. I got emotional. He’s such a brilliant actor, and I love his work.”

In 2021, Kilmer declared he was cancer-free.

He is survived by his daughter, Mercedes and son, Jack.