"Top Gun" and "Batman Forever" actor Val Kilmer dies at 65

American actor Val Kilmer died from pneumonia on Tuesday night at the age of 65, surrounded by his family and friends, his daughter Mercedes announced.  

Kilmer was born in 1959 and grew up in Los Angeles.  At 17 years old, he became the youngest actor at the time ever accepted to Juilliard, a prestigious performance arts school in New York.  

Kilmer first rose to fame in the 1980s, with roles in comedy films like the 1984 spy parody “Top Secret!” and the 1985 “Real Genius.” 

He earned his big break by playing Iceman, Tom Cruise’s rival in the 1986 classic “Top Gun”, a role he reprised 36 years later in the sequel “Top Gun Maverick.” 

His other iconic roles included Batman in the film “Batman Forever” alongside Nicole Kidman, and Jim Morrison in a biopic based on the rock band The Doors.

Kilmer’s career reached its peak in the 1990s, a period during which he emerged as a charismatic leading man starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. 

“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”, Mann reacted in a statement.

After this successful era, Kilmer experienced dramatic highs and lows throughout his life and career. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent two tracheotomies, but he later recovered. 

Kilmer also had a reputation for being difficult to work with and has admitted to his sometimes-poor behaviour, but said he regretted nothing. 

“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he says toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed.”

In addition to his career in cinema, Kilmer has released two poetry collections and was also a visual artist, combining photography, collage and painting among other forms. 

He is survived by his two children, Mercedes and Jack.