Val Kilmer – the actor famous for his role as Batman in ‘Batman Forever’ and Iceman in ‘Top Gun’, has just passed away at the age of 65. Before that, the veteran star spent many years fighting nasopharyngeal cancer.
At noon on April 2, The New York Times confirmed that Val Kilmer had just passed away in Los Angeles (USA) on April 1 (local time), at the age of 65. The late actor’s daughter – Mercedes Kilmer, said the cause of his death was pneumonia. Mercedes Kilmer also shared that her father was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer in 2014, spent a long time fighting the disease and then recovered.
The last movie that Val Kilmer participated in was Top Gun: Maverick (2022), the sequel to the blockbuster Top Gun (1986). After 36 years, his role as Tom Kazansky (Iceman) is no longer the arrogant young pilot of the past but has become a high-ranking commander in the navy and retired to rest. With his prestige, he brought Maverick (Tom Cruise) back to Top Gun school to train a group of outstanding young pilots before carrying out an unimaginable mission with them. Although he did not appear much, Val Kilmer’s character made longtime fans feel emotional when he had an emotional reunion with Maverick.
Val Kilmer eagerly participated in a guest role even though he had lost the ability to speak due to treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer. The New York Post revealed that the production team enlisted the help of an AI company to recreate Kilmer’s voice through recordings of him throughout his career and dub it into the short scene.
Kilmer once shared about his return in Top Gun: Maverick: “Being Iceman again is like meeting a long-lost friend.” Meanwhile, Tom Cruise expressed his happiness at reuniting with his senior: “He’s an actor I’ve always admired, so it’s great that we’re reunited.”
Val Kilmer started acting in the early 1980s and was known as one of the highest-paid actors in the 1990s. The veteran actor was famous for a series of works: The Doors, True Romance, Thunderheart, The Ghost and the Darkness, Wonderland… In addition to Iceman of Top Gun, the 65-year-old star is also known to international audiences for his role as Batman in Batman Forever (1995). The films in which this talented artist participated have a total revenue of more than 3.7 billion USD.
For about 3 years, Kilmer has not acted in films. In 2020, he published the memoir I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir. This male artist is also the main character in the documentary Val, which chronicles his career and health issues. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and received many positive reviews from critics.
In his personal life, Kilmer was married to actress Joanne Whalley (from 1988 to 1996) and had two children: daughter Mercedes Kilmer (1991) and son Jack Kilmer (1995). The veteran actor was absent from Hollywood for more than ten years. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2012, he said he had many other interests and wanted to spend time with his children. “I don’t regret anything. There’s a saying that’s quite true: Once you’re a star, you’re always a star. It’s just at what level,” he shared.
In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the famous artist had been battling nasopharyngeal cancer for more than 2 years. After undergoing tracheal surgery and chemotherapy, the actor lost his voice. He had to use a support device inserted in his trachea to be able to communicate, but it was still very difficult to speak.
