RIP Val Kilmer

 

Val Kilmer, the charisma-oozing leading man who lost himself portraying such tormented, self-loathing characters as Jim Morrison, gunslinger Doc Holliday and Batman during his all-too-brief career, died April 1^st in Los Angeles, California of pneumonia. He was 65. Born Val Edward Kilmer, part Cherokee, Irish, German and Swedish, was born on New Year’s Eve 1959 in the L.A. suburb of Chatsworth. Kilmer came to fame playing the competitive naval aviator Tom “Iceman” Kazansky alongside Tom Cruise in Tony Scott’s 1986 mega box-office hit Top Gun. He was also lauded for his roles as Jim Morrison in 1991’s “The Doors”, Doc Holliday in 1993’s “Tombstone” and as Batman in “Batman Forever” in 1995. The screen icon was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent surgery, including a tracheotomy which significantly impacted his ability to speak. In 2011, Kilmer sold off most of his 6,000-acre ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had lived for decades. He told THR in December 2017 that his faith as a Christian Scientist helped him deal with his cancer ordeal. Survivors include his son, Jack. daughter Mercedes, whom he shared with ex-wife Joanne Whalley. Val appeared in two Euro-westerns: “Dead Man's Bounty” in 2006 as the wanted man and as Mark Twain in “Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn” in 2014.