The actor died from pneumonia, his family confirmed.
Actor Val Kilmer, best known for his roles in movies such as “Top Gun,” “The Doors,” and “Batman Forever,” died on April 1 at age 65, his daughter confirmed to the media.
Kilmer died from pneumonia, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. He was in Los Angeles and surrounded by family and friends at the time of his death, she said.
The California-born actor was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered, she stated.
At 17, Kilmer was the youngest actor ever accepted into the drama division of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York in 1981. He launched his professional acting career on stage before making his feature debut in the 1984 spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985.
It was his breakout role as the Iceman in Tony Scott’s 1986 “Top Gun,” in which he starred opposite Tom Cruise, that made him a household name.
Following its success, Kilmer went on to star in multiple movies in a career that spanned decades, including Oliver Stone’s 1991 drama “The Doors,” in which he played Jim Morrison, the charismatic but doomed lead singer of the influential rock band The Doors.
He also appeared as Old West gunfighter Doc Holliday in the 1993 Western “Tombstone” and co-starred alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as master thief Chris Shiherlis in director Michael Mann’s 1995 bank heist drama “Heat.”
In 1995, Kilmer succeeded Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader in “Batman Forever,” in which he appeared alongside Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Tommy Lee Jones.
Director Joel Schumacher later called Kilmer “the most psychologically troubled human being I’ve ever worked with.”
Things appeared to worsen for Kilmer on the 1996 movie “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” during which he reportedly clashed with co-star Marlon Brando, while the production was riddled with various issues. The movie ultimately flopped.
John Frankenheimer, who directed the film, told Premiere magazine in 1997 that there were two things he would never do again in his life: “I will never climb Mt. Everest and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn’t enough money in the world.”
