Actor Val Kilmer has passed away at 65.
Born Val Edward Kilmer in Los Angeles in 1959, Kilmer’s acting career got off to a hot start when he became the youngest person to be accepted into the Juilliard School’s Drama Division. He headed for the stage and in 1983 made his small-screen debut in an ABC After-School Special. His big break came in 1984 when he received top billing in the spy-spoof TOP SECRET! A year later he would appear in REAL GENIUS.
In 1986 he landed one of his most iconic roles, as the hotshot aviator Iceman in TOP GUN, opposite Tom Cruise. He would reprise in the role in the 2022 sequel, which would be his final film role. In 1988 he would play the self-proclaimed greatest swordsman who ever lived in the Ron Howard-directed, George Lucas-produced fantasy, WILLOW. In 1991 Oliver Stone would hand him another iconic role: the role of Jim Morrison in THE DOORS.
In 1993 he delivered what is probably the performance of the decade as Doc Holliday in TOMBSTONE. Two years later he would have a high-profile year, appearing as Bruce Wayne/Batman in BATMAN FOREVER, and in Michael Mann’s towering crime drama, HEAT.
Other notable roles would include TRUE ROMANCE (1993), THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1996), THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (1996), THE SAINT (1997), THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (1998), RED PLANET (2000), THE MISSING (2003), ALEXANDER (2004), KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005), and Francis Ford Coppola’s TWIXT (2011).
In 2015 he was diagnosed with throat cancer which damaged his vocal chords. In 2021 the documentary film VAL, which followed his health struggles and career, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim.
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Val Kilmer was custom-made for Hollywood stardom. With perfect good-looks, talent, and a cool name that wasn’t made-up, there was nothing else he ever could have done. He acted against names such as DeNiro, Brando, Russell, and Cruise. He worked for directors with names such as Coppola, Stone, Howard, Schumacher, and Scott. He won fights with six-shooters and swords and brought Jim Morrison back from the grave. His rapid reloading technique in the famous gunfight in HEAT would be taught to Marines and Army Rangers. He would steal the show in MAVERICK by saying one line of dialogue. That is the stuff of legend.
For this Blogger, there was a period in the 1990’s where my friends and I were obsessed with TOMBSTONE, and Kilmer’s stunning performance was a big part of it. His Doc Holliday was the most quotable, and his quip “I’m your huckleberry” was quoted often then and now. In WILLOW, he was the owner of one of my all-time favorite lines: “Give me a sword, I’ll win this war for you”. But perhaps the best quote surrounding him came from his co-star Tom Cruise in their emotional goodbye in MAVERICK:
“Thank you, Ice. For everything”.
