Val Kilmer, Star of Top Gun and Batman Forever, Dies at 65

Hyderabad: Hollywood actor Val Kilmer, recognised for significant roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever, and The Doors, died Tuesday night at 65 years old. In a statement from his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, she mentioned the actor died in Los Angeles, surrounded by friends and family. Kilmer died from pneumonia after recovering from a throat cancer diagnosis back in 2014 that required two tracheotomies.

Kilmer rose to fame in the 1980s and exhibited a wide range of talents in films, including Top Secret! (1984), a spy spoof, and the college comedy, Real Genius (1985). It was his role as the arrogant fighter pilot Tom Iceman Kazansky, in Top Gun, (1986) that honed in on his Hollywood weight next to Tom Cruise and made him a Hollywood household name. He would reprise that role in the 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, alongside Cruise.

His career took off during the 1990s, standing out with his highly praised portrayals of Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993) and alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat (1995). Kilmer was known for being a method actor as he used to physically and mentally commit to his roles. He once slept in ice to mimic Holliday's tuberculosis, while insisting on being called Jim Morrison while they were making The Doors (1991).

Kilmer's most public and visible role came in 1995 when he played Batman in Batman Forever. His role as the Dark Knight was short-lived, but Kilmer later revealed that the suit he wore in the film made his part difficult. Kilmer continued working in movies like The Saint (1997) and The Salton Sea (2002) to show he could play complicated characters. Kilmer had a reputation as being hard for some directors to work with, and filmmakers like Joel Schumacher and John Frankenheimer publicly expressed their frustrations. However, his coworkers came to his defense, saying he was passionate about his work and genuinely cared about delivering his best.

Kilmer was born in 1959 in Los Angeles and was the youngest student ever accepted into Juilliard's illustrious drama program at the time. In Kilmer's early years, he faced the tragedy of losing his younger brother, Wesley, who was 15 when he died. Kilmer would use his grief in his work, publishing poetry and even receiving a Grammy nomination in 2012 for his spoken word album The Mark of Zoro. Later in life, Kilmer faced health issues, especially after his diagnosis of throat cancer, which required several tracheotomies and affected his speech. He is survived by two children, Mercedes and Jack, from his marriage to actor Joanne Whalley.

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