Known for his roles in Batman Forever, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Tombstone, the prolific actor’s cause of death was pneumonia
Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors, has died at the age of 65.
His daughter Mercedes told the New York Times that the cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, after treatment with chemotherapy and trachea surgery that had reduced his vocal capability.
Born in Los Angeles in 1959, Kilmer was one of the youngest students ever admitted to the acting programme at the Juilliard School, aged 17. He started out as a stage actor and rose to prominence in the late 1980s with his roles in movie comedies Top Secret! and Real Genius before landing a role as Iceman in the box office smash Top Gun.
With his star ascendant, he took the lead role in Ron Howard and George Lucas’s fantasy epic Willow, where he met his future wife – his co-star, Joanne Whalley, with whom he would have two children. The pair divorced in 1996.
Oliver Stone cast him as Jim Morrison in his biopic The Doors, and Kilmer also landed roles as Elvis Presley in True Romance and Doc Holliday in the western Tombstone.
