Val Kilmer obituary

Val Kilmer starred in films like The Doors, Top Gun, Tombstone, and Batman Forever.

(Image credit: Everett)

Val Kilmer smoldered with intensity, for better and for worse. The Adonis-faced actor had a reputation for disappearing into his roles: Critic Roger Ebert called his turn as singer Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991) "not a case of casting, but of possession." Other high-profile roles included aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the smash hit Top Gun (1986), gunfighter Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993), and Batman in Batman Forever (1995). But Kilmer was also known as an eccentric perfectionist who could be a nightmare on set. "The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate," Entertainment Weekly dubbed him in a 1996 story; directors called him "childish," "impossible," and a "damaged megalomaniac." Kilmer was unapologetic. "I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some," he said in 2021. "I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed."

Kilmer grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth, Calif., where his father was a real estate developer, said the Los Angeles Times. Destined for acting, he performed in TV commercials as a kid and at 16 was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard drama program. The night before he left, his younger brother drowned in a swimming pool; Kilmer said "he never fully recovered." After graduating he appeared off-Broadway, then gained notice in Real Genius (1985) before he "broke through" as Tom Cruise's rival in Top Gun. It was in The Doors, though, "that he earned movie star status." With typical intensity Kilmer "immersed himself" in playing Morrison, said The Times (U.K.). He studied videos of the singer "obsessively" and sang so convincingly that Morrison's former bandmates couldn't tell the two voices apart.

Kilmer's bad reputation peaked with the filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), a "disastrous production" marred by his tantrums and feuding, said Variety. Soon "studio roles dwindled," and he "appeared mostly in independent films and supporting roles." Keeping a home base on a New Mexico ranch, he spent years touring a one-man Mark Twain show, Citizen Twain. In 2021, seven years after he was diagnosed with the throat cancer that stole his voice, he was the subject of a documentary, Val, depicting him as "an introspective thinker with an artist's soul." He told an interviewer that year that he would change nothing about his career, saying, "I've witnessed and experienced miracles."