Val Kilmer

Early life, family and education

Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, the second of three sons to Gladys Swanette (; 1928–2019) and industrialist and to a developer, Eugene Dorris Kilmer (1921–1993). His mother was of Swedish descent, and his father's ancestry included Irish, German, and Cherokee roots. His parents divorced in 1968 when he was 8 years old and in 1970, his mother married William Bernard Leach.

Kilmer was raised with Christian Science beliefs, which he maintained for most of his life. In 1977, Kilmer's younger brother Wesley (1961–1977), who had epilepsy, drowned in a hot tub at age 16.

Kilmer attended Chatsworth High School where he was friends with actors Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham, whom Kilmer dated. He became the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the Juilliard School's Drama Division, where he was a member of Group 10. At Juilliard, Kilmer and Spacey's friendship ended over a financial matter.

Career

Early roles and comedy films

Kilmer declined a role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film The Outsiders because he had prior theater commitments. In 1983, he appeared off Broadway in The Slab Boys with Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, and Jackie Earle Haley. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of an episode of ABC Afterschool Special called One Too Many, although it did not air until 1985. It was an educational drama on drinking and driving, and co-starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. Also in 1983, Kilmer self-published a collection of his own poetry entitled My Edens After Burns, that included poems inspired by his time with Pfeiffer. This book of poems is difficult to obtain and expensive; known second-hand copies cost $300 and up.

His big break came when he received top billing in the comedy spoof of spy movies Top Secret!, in which he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".

During a brief hiatus, Kilmer backpacked throughout Europe before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy Real Genius. He turned down a role in David Lynch's Blue Velvet before being cast as naval aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the action film Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. Top Gun grossed a total of over $344 million worldwide and made Kilmer a major star. Following roles in the television films The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Kilmer portrayed Madmartigan in the fantasy Willow; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. Kilmer starred in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet in 1988. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in Kill Me Again, again opposite Whalley, and played William H. "Billy the Kid" Bonney in Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid.

1990–1995: Stardom with ''The Doors'' and ''Batman''

After several delays, director Oliver Stone started production on the film The Doors, based on the story of the band of the same name. Kilmer spoke with Oliver Stone early in the project, concerned about the portrayal of Jim Morrison’s substance abuse. Kilmer saw Morrison as having picked the wrong heroes and embracing behaviors not conducive to creativity or inspiration. Kilmer saw Morrison's story as one that could be told "a thousand different ways" and did not want to tell it by playing the role of a habitual drug user; Stone agreed. Kilmer memorized the lyrics to all of Morrison's songs prior to his audition and sent a video of himself performing some Doors songs to Stone. Stone was not impressed with the tape, but Paul A. Rothchild (the original producer of the Doors) said, "I was shaken by it," and suggested they record Kilmer in the studio. After Kilmer was cast as Morrison, he prepared for the role by attending Doors tribute concerts and reading Morrison's poetry.

He spent close to a year before production dressing like Morrison and spent time at Morrison's old hangouts along the Sunset Strip. His portrayal of Morrison was praised and members of the Doors noted that Kilmer did such a convincing job that they had trouble distinguishing his voice from Morrison's. Paul Rothchild played Kilmer's version of "The End" for the band's guitarist, Robby Krieger, who told him, "I'm really glad they got 'The End'. We never got a recording of that live with Jim and now we've got it." However, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek was less than enthusiastic with Stone's interpretation of Morrison.

In the early 1990s, Kilmer starred in the mystery thriller Thunderheart, the action comedy The Real McCoy, and again teamed with Top Gun director Tony Scott to play Elvis Presley in True Romance, which was written by Quentin Tarantino. In 1993, Kilmer played Doc Holliday in the western Tombstone alongside Kurt Russell. In the film, Doc Holliday performs Chopin's Nocturne in E minor, Op.72, No. 1; however, Kilmer did not play the piano and he practiced that one piece for months in preparation. In 1995, Kilmer starred in Wings of Courage, a 3D IMAX film, and that same year, he starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, which is now considered one of the best crime/drama films of the 1990s.

In December 1993 Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher had seen Tombstone and was most impressed with Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday. Schumacher felt him to be perfect for the role of Batman, though at the time, the role was still Michael Keaton's. In July 1994, Keaton decided not to return for a third Batman film after 1992's Batman Returns, due to "creative differences". William Baldwin (who previously worked with Schumacher on Flatliners) was reported to be a top contender, though just days after Keaton dropped out, Kilmer was cast. Kilmer took the role without even knowing who the new director was and without reading the script.

Released in June 1995, Batman Forever was a success at the box office, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. There was debate about Kilmer's performance: some critics, such as The New York Times Janet Maslin, thought Kilmer was a poor successor to Keaton in the part; while others, such as Roger Ebert, had kind words for Kilmer. Batman co-creator Bob Kane said in a Cinescape interview that of all the actors to have played Batman up to that point, he felt Kilmer had given the best interpretation. Film critic Leonard Maltin (who criticized the dark tone contained in Batman Returns) complimented Kilmer's portrayal when he reviewed the film in his 2009 movie guide.

In February 1996, Kilmer decided not to return for another Batman feature film, feeling that Batman was being marginalized in favor of the villains, as well as his scheduling problems with The Saint, and George Clooney replaced him as Batman in 1997's Batman & Robin. There were also reports that Kilmer had a bad working relationship with Schumacher, as another reason for not reprising the role.

1996–2009: Further career

In 1996 he appeared in a largely unknown film, Dead Girl, and starred alongside Marlon Brando in the poorly received The Island of Dr. Moreau. That year, Kilmer starred alongside Michael Douglas in the thriller The Ghost and the Darkness. In 1997 he played Simon Templar in the popular action film The Saint. Kilmer looked forward to the title role as a change toward a more fun, less serious action thriller, while enjoying the "master of disguise" chameleon characters including a mad artist, a nerdy British scientist, a cleaner, and a Russian mob boss. Kilmer also wrote the poetry in the film. He received a salary of $6 million for the movie. The Saint was a financial success, grossing $169.4 million worldwide. In 1998, he voiced both Moses and God in the animated film The Prince of Egypt, before starring in the independent film Joe the King (1999). Also in 1999, he played a blind man in the drama/romance At First Sight, which he described as being, as of then, the hardest role he had ever had.

Kilmer's first role in 2000 was in the big budget Warner Bros. box office disaster Red Planet. That same year, he had a supporting role as the Dutch-born American abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning in the film Pollock and hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. In 2002, he starred in the thriller The Salton Sea, which was generally well-reviewed, but received only a limited release. The same year, he teamed with his True Romance co-star, Christian Slater, to appear in the low-budget film Hard Cash, also known as Run for the Money.

In 2003, Kilmer starred alongside Kate Bosworth in the drama/thriller Wonderland, portraying porn star John Holmes. He also appeared in The Missing, where he again worked with Willow director Ron Howard. The next year, he starred in David Mamet's Spartan, where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the president. He received Delta Force-like training in preparation for the role. Subsequently, he had a role in the drama Stateside, and starred (again with Slater) in the thriller Mindhunters, which was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005. Kilmer next appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production Alexander, which received poor reviews.

Also in 2004, Kilmer returned to the theater to play Moses in a Los Angeles musical production of The Ten Commandments: The Musical, produced by BCBG founder Max Azria. The production played at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and also featured Adam Lambert. This same year, Kilmer appeared in an episode of Entourage, where he played a Sherpa whose primary source of income was growing, harvesting, and distributing high-quality cannabis, all under the guise of obtaining metaphysical insights.

Kilmer was in negotiations with Richard Dutcher (a leading director of Mormon-related films) to play the lead role in a film entitled Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith, although the project never materialized. Kilmer performed in The Postman Always Rings Twice on the London stage from June to September 2005. In 2005, he co-starred with Robert Downey, Jr. in the action-comedy film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. His performance was praised and the film was well reviewed, but it received only a limited release. It later won the award for "Overlooked Film of the Year" from the Phoenix Film Critics Society.

Filmink argued "we're really surprised Kilmer could not make more of a comeback in the 2000s. Was he too chubby? Had he burned too many bridges? Another '90s movie star who hit a cold streak and got jowly Alec Baldwin came back in a big way via 30 Rock, but for whatever reason, Kilmer could never come close to his old glory."

In 2006, Kilmer reunited with director Tony Scott for a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit Déjà Vu. The song "Val Kilmer" was named after him on Bowling for Soup's 2006 album The Great Burrito Extortion Case. The song was later used for a Ford Motors commercial on season 10 of American Idol in 2011. In 2007, he guest-starred on the hit TV series Numb3rs in the episode "Trust Metric", portraying torture expert Mason Lancer. That same year, he released a CD, proceeds of which went to his charity interests. In 2008, Kilmer starred alongside Stephen Dorff in the Sony and Stage 6 film Felon. The film was given only a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles in 2008, but it developed into a success secondary to positive word of mouth. Kilmer was the voice of the car KITT for the 2008 Knight Rider TV pilot film and the following television series. He replaced Will Arnett, who had to step down from the role due to contractual conflict with General Motors. In keeping with tradition established by the original Knight Rider series and original KITT actor William Daniels, Kilmer was uncredited for the role on-screen. He next starred alongside Nicolas Cage in the Werner Herzog film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and alongside Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in Streets of Blood. Both were released in 2009. He appeared as the main antagonist "Mongoose" in a live TV series adaptation of the comic/video game of XIII on NBC in 2009.

2010–2025: Later work and final projects

In 2010, Kilmer starred in Michael Oblowitz's horror film The Traveler, in which he played the vengeful spirit of a man who had been tortured and murdered while in police custody. In November 2010, Kilmer was filming in Kelseyville, California. He was finally able to work with his lifelong friend Francis Ford Coppola and star in the film Twixt. The film was filmed mostly on Coppola's estate in Napa County. The filming was expected to take five weeks and was being independently funded by Coppola. In 2010, Kilmer appeared as the villain Dieter Von Cunth in MacGruber and had a small cameo role in the music video for Tenacious D's "To Be the Best". Kilmer spoke at the May 5, 2010, commencement ceremonies of William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. During his week-long visit on campus, he also performed his one-man play, Citizen Twain. He received an honorary doctorate "in recognition of his creative abilities and his contributions to art and theater".

In 2012, Kilmer received a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word. He also starred in Harmony Korine's short film The Lotus Community Workshop, part of the collaborative film The Fourth Dimension. He plays a version of himself from an alternate reality: a former actor turned self-help guru. The Fourth Dimension is a collection of three standalone short films about parallel universes produced by Vice Films in collaboration with Grolsch Film Works, a new division of the namesake beer company. Kilmer noted that his addition to the list of actors, including John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) and Al Pacino (Jack and Jill), that mock their real-life persona in fictional movies was an accident and said that, "I still love saying the premise because it makes me laugh every time."

In 2002, Kilmer worked on a film about the life of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science church, and Mark Twain, one of her most famous critics. The film is about the lives and relationship of Eddy and Twain as "a quirky, tender, tragicomic portrait of two contrasting lives, set against the backdrop of the United States during the Gilded Age." Citizen Twain was initially performed as a one-man show Hollywood workshop in April 2012; it then became the basis of Kilmer's film project, his directorial debut. The 90-minute film version of his one-man stage show was released as Cinema Twain. In 2013, he reunited with his Top Gun co-star Anthony Edwards in the Disney animated movie Planes. Kilmer voiced the character Bravo, while Edwards supplied Echo. Kilmer also played the role of Detective Dobson in the series finale of the television show Psych.

In 2017, Kilmer appeared in Song to Song opposite Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling and directed by Terrence Malick. Kilmer also appeared in the 2017 film The Snowman, opposite Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson and directed by Tomas Alfredson. In August 2020, Kilmer shared the screen with his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, for the first time in Paydirt. Kilmer reprised his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky for the Top Gun sequel Top Gun: Maverick (2022). The 2021 documentary film Val, which chronicles his health struggles and career, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim and later earned two Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.

As Kilmer's throat problems affected his vocal abilities, technology solutions were sought. In 2021, he collaborated with Sonantic, a London-based software company, to digitally recreate his voice using AI and archived recordings. More than 40 vocal models were created to find the closest match for future projects. For the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski stated that, despite reports to the contrary, they did not use Sonantic's AI technology in the film. Instead, Kilmer's actual voice was digitally altered for clarity.

Kilmer had been set to make an appearance at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in Beverly Hills, California on April 1, 2025, hours before his death.

Reputation

Kilmer had a reputation for being difficult to work with and having feuds with his co-stars, notably Marlon Brando of The Island of Dr. Moreau and Tom Sizemore of Red Planet and Heat. Kilmer's Tombstone co-star, Michael Biehn, said: "People ask me what it's like to work with Val Kilmer. I don't know. Never met him. Never shook his hand. I know Doc Holliday, but I don't know [Kilmer]."

Richard Stanley, who directed Kilmer for three days in The Island of Dr. Moreau before being fired, recalled, "Val would arrive, and an argument would happen." John Frankenheimer, who replaced Stanley, said, "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again." Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher called Kilmer "childish and impossible".

When Kilmer's At First Sight co-star Mira Sorvino was asked about his reputation as "difficult to work with", she responded: "You know what, he was real easy to work with. I just hate furthering rumours about people being difficult, because it can do such enormous damage to their careers. My experience with him was nothing but positive. He was really professional and gentlemanly, and a terrific actor." Kurt Russell, Kilmer's co-star in Tombstone, said of working with him: "If you're asking me if it was great working with Val Kilmer, who played Doc Holliday on Tombstone, the answer is absolutely." Drew Barrymore, who costarred with Kilmer in Batman Forever, said of her experience with the actor: "Val Kilmer was so nice to me. He was so nurturing and kind and safe, which was a very important thing for me."

Hilarie Burton, Kilmer's co-star in Bloodworth, called him "the sweetest man" and said he cut a gratuitous sex scene between them in the film because "it didn't service the story or the character", instead changing it to a scene in which their characters are enjoying barbecued ribs. She said of Kilmer: "I felt so safe and cared for by that man ... He made the scene about us instead of using me as a prop. That one day at work rewired my brain. Val was kind to me. A thoughtful artist ... I hope every young actor has a Val in their life."

Personal life

Kilmer was a lifelong Christian Scientist.

After portraying Jim Morrison in The Doors, Kilmer received counseling to help him separate himself from the character.

Relationships and family

Over the years, Kilmer dated Cher, Lesley Ann Warren, Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie, Daryl Hannah and Ellen Barkin.

Kilmer was married to actress Joanne Whalley from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the 1988 film Willow. They had two children, Mercedes and Jack Kilmer.

Residences and activities

Kilmer owned a 6000 acre ranch in New Mexico, where he would trek, hike, fish, and raise bison. He sold it in 2011. [[File:Hail-Bacchus Val Kilmer.jpg|alt=Kilmer wearing an elaborate king outfit, covered in foil|thumb|Kilmer reigning as [[Krewe of Bacchus|Bacchus]] at a 2009 [[Mardi Gras]] parade in New Orleans]]

Kilmer was an avid musician; he released a demo album, Sessions with Mick, in 2007. He was also a painter and photographer.

Political views and charity work

In 1998, Kilmer traveled to Iraq with AmeriCares to deliver humanitarian aid, the first US humanitarian airlift to Iraq since 1990. Kilmer made several trips to New Orleans to help in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. He was a supporter of Native American affairs and an advocate of environmental protection. Kilmer briefly considered running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010 but decided against it.

In May 2013, Kilmer lobbied Congress on behalf of the Equitable Access to Care and Health Act, or EACH Act (H.R. 1814), a bill "to provide an additional religious exemption from the individual health coverage mandate" of Obamacare.

Health

Kilmer was a longtime smoker.

In 2014, Kilmer was forced to cancel a Citizen Twain show after losing his voice. He noticed a lump in his throat but did not seek medical care until he started vomiting blood. In January 2015, aged 55, he was hospitalized for what his representative said were tests for a possible tumor. Kilmer stated on social media, "I have not had a tumor, or 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." Kilmer was a lifelong Christian Scientist; upon receiving his throat cancer diagnosis referred to it in the press as "the suggestion of throat cancer", opting not to explicitly associate himself with such a diagnosis. He underwent recommended chemotherapy following his children's request despite it being against his religion.

After previously denying persistent rumors that he had been diagnosed with cancer, Kilmer said in April 2017 that he had experienced a "healing of cancer". In December 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kilmer had endured a "two-year battle with throat cancer” and that "a procedure on his trachea has reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath." To speak, Kilmer plugged an electric voice box into his trachea.

Kilmer ultimately underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies.Multiple sources:

Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years but continued to struggle with medical treatments, including the use of a feeding tube.

Death and tributes

Kilmer died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home on April 1, 2025, at the age of 65. His primary cause of death was declared as pneumonia amid hypoxemia, respiratory failure, squamous cell carcinoma, and other associated factors. Kilmer was cremated on April 7.

Upon his death, filmmaker Michael Mann wrote, "While working with Val on Heat, I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val's possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news." Director Francis Ford Coppola wrote, "He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him." Tom Cruise honored his Top Gun co-star at CinemaCon asking for a moment of silence saying, "I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us." Director Oliver Stone wrote: "Val Kilmer was brilliant, both as Jim Morrison in The Doors and in Alexander as King Philip of Macedon. His approach and attitude significantly changed between 1990 and Alexander in 2004. The results satisfied me on both occasions. To call Val turbulent, contradictory, and tortured is an understatement. But the result was he was exciting on film, always exciting, and fresh. We need more Vals. He was an iconoclast and rebel in his acting, and always kept it exciting in either supporting or main roles. The movies will miss him." The Doors' drummer John Densmore wrote: "As an actor, Val's channeling of Jim (Morrison) was so close, he gave me the creeps on the set of Oliver Stone's biopic. He should have been nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor."

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre