Val Kilmer, the 1980's and ‘90s movie star who played everything from Batman to Doc Holliday, died on Tuesday, April 1, according to a statement released by his daughter to the New York Times and the Associated Press. He was 65.
Kilmer's acting career was rooted in the theater. At 21, he became the youngest student at the time to be accepted into Julliard School’s drama department.
He began his film career in the 1984 comedy “Top Secret!” and acted in several movies throughout the ‘80s including his breakout role in 1986’s “Top Gun.” He then starred in a long streak of genre-spanning classics: Superhero films like 1995’s “Batman Forever” in which he played the Dark Knight, and memorable turns in Westerns as Doc Holliday in 1993’s “Tombstone,” biopics as Jim Morrison in 1991’s “The Doors” and in crime films as a bank robber in Michael Mann’s 1995 masterpiece, “Heat.”
In 2017, Kilmer revealed he had throat cancer and, a few years later, underwent a tracheotomy that altered his voice. He largely stepped away from acting, although he returned to the silver screen alongside his daughter Mercedes Kilmer in 2020's “Paydirt” and to reprise his his role as “Iceman” in 2022's “Top Gun: Maverick."
