Val Kilmer, legendary actor known for “The Doors” and “Tombstone,” dies at

Val Kilmer, the acclaimed, brooding actor who starred in a string of blockbuster hits in the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 65.

Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press.

Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies. 

The New York Times was first to report on Kilmer’s death.

A unique talent, Kilmer was praised as an acting chameleon who took on varied and challenging roles, and the results were often memorable. Beginning with “Top Gun” alongside Tom Cruise in 1986, he turned in one iconic performance after another — able to transition effortlessly between leading man and supporting roles. 

There was his turn as Jim Morrison in the 1991 Oliver Stone classic “The Doors,” and as the quick-witted Doc Holliday in the 1993 Western “Tombstone.” He followed that up in 1995 as Bruce Wayne in “Batman Forever,” and played a bank robber in Michael Mann’s crime thriller “Heat.” 

His last major film credit was in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which he reprised his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.

Toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career, Kilmer said, “I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed. And I am blessed.”

Kilmer, who attended the prestigious Juilliard School, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most. His break came in 1984’s spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”

His movie career hit its zenith in the early 1990s as he made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

The actor – who took part in the Method branch of Suzuki arts training – threw himself into parts. When he played Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” he filled his bed with ice for the final scene to mimic the feeling of dying from tuberculosis. To play Morrison, he wore leather pants all the time, asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as Jim Morrison and blasted The Doors for a year.

That intensity also gave Kilmer a reputation that he was difficult to work with, something he grudgingly agreed with later…