Val Kilmer, Top Gun Actor, Dies at 65

Val Kilmer, best known for movies such as 1986’s Top Gun and 1995’s Batman Forever, has died. He was 65 years old.

His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times he died of pneumonia on Tuesday, April 1. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she added.

Kilmer made his final appearance on film in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 classic. Kilmer briefly appeared in the film, sharing a poignant moment with Tom Cruise onscreen.

“I just want to say that was pretty emotional,” Cruise told Jimmy Kimmel about acting alongside his friend again. “I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again.”

After years of rumored health problems, Kilmer finally opened up about his battle with throat cancer during a December 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The article revealed that the actor’s two-year fight with throat cancer had “taken its toll” on the family and noted that Kilmer had undergone a procedure on his trachea which made his voice raspy and left him short of breath.

His health issues first became apparent in January 2015, when a spokesperson told PEOPLE that Kilmer was rushed to the hospital “for a possible tumor.” Soon after, he took to Facebook to deny having a tumor, saying only that he “had a complication.”

Further rumors were repeatedly shut down by Kilmer, who was spotted out with a tracheostomy tube in October 2015 and then without it the next February.

“I have not had a tumor, or a tumor operations, or any operation I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU,” he later said in a Facebook post. “I am praying for a speedy return to the boards as they say. God bless you all and please don’t worry.”

In October of that year, the actor had to once again reassure fans that he was okay, denying a report that he had been rushed to the hospital. In a Facebook statement, the actor revealed that he had gone to the hospital just to “verify I have no tumor or infection of any kind which was verified by the very caring experts at UCLA.” However, less than two months after declaring he was healthy, Kilmer was spotted out with what appeared to be a tracheostomy tube. Though he was then spotted again in February 2016 without it, the scar from the breathing aid was visible on the actor’s throat.

In 2021, Kilmer shared his story for the documentary Val, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo. Kilmer produced the film with Mercedes and his son Jack. It focused on his difficult recovery process and received a standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

“He’s such a layered person, there’s the childlike playfulness, but then there’s also the deep wisdom of somebody who’s been on a spiritual path their whole life at the same time,” Mercedes told PEOPLE of her father in 2021. “He’s a lot of opposites that make him incredibly interesting, and it’s kind of why our film is so interesting.”

Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California in 1959 to parents Eugene and Gladys, though they later divorced. Tragedy struck the Kilmer family in 1977 when Kilmer’s younger brother Wesley drowned at the young age of 15.

“He was a genius,” Kilmer told The New York Times in 2002. Kilmer praised his brother as an aspiring filmmaker, calling him so talented that he could have been another Steven Spielberg or George Lucas.

Shortly after his brother’s death, Kilmer became the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the famed Juilliard School’s Drama Group. This became the start of his acting career.

“I had a unique experience because I just lost my little brother a week before I started school,” Kilmer said in a talk at Juilliard in 2005. “So it was quite an emotional time for me, and in a way, the extremely high standards and the activity of the School I’m sure were good for me, because I was forced to really challenge myself about my very life, you know—what I believe about life and death. For me, it was a great way to progress out of that difficult time, to be thrown into such a great school.”

Though Kilmer had a few roles on Broadway, his big-screen break came in the 1984 movie Top Secret! — a parody of spy films in the Cold War era and the musicals Elvis Presley used to star in. Kilmer plays an American rockstar who travels to East Germany and gets caught in the fight and resistance towards reunification. The actor did his own singing and dancing in the film.

Kilmer’s superstar-making moment came in Top Gun, where he starred as a naval aviator Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazanski alongside Cruise.

“It was fun,” Kilmer told Larry King in 2013 about working with Cruise and filming the movie. “My guy didn’t like him but it was fun to not like him.”

After gaining critical acclaim for his supporting role in Top Gun, the actor achieved starring success by helming Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie, The Doors. Kilmer starred as The Doors frontman Jim Morrison alongside Meg Ryan, committing fully to the role of the late troubled rocker by memorizing all his songs and even dressing like him.

In 1988, Kilmer married actress Joanne Whalley after they met while working together on the movie Willow. The couple had two children — Mercedes in 1991 and Jack in 1995 — before divorcing in 1996.

The late actor worked steadily throughout his career, starring in a one-man play titled Mark Twain: Citizen Twain in 2016 and turning to art late in his life. His final Facebook post, published on March 22, featured his latest painting.