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One of the great movie stars of our time, Val Kilmer, passed away Tuesday in Los Angeles, succumbing to pneumonia at the age of 65.
Kilmer was a versatile, talented actor performer and a bona fide movie star during a film career that stretched from 1984 until a more recent appearance in the 2022 sequel to Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick where he reprised his breakout role- Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky from the 1986 original. Top Gun is and was one of the cultural icon movies of our time.
The scene in Maverick worked around Kilmer’s battle with throat cancer. His voice had to be artificially created for the limited dialogue in the scene with Maverick, of course played by superstar Tom Cruise. But Kilmer’s performance in the scene, communicating with his body language without the use of dialogue, only further reinforced his legit acting chops.
Kilmer announced he was cancer-free in 2021.
There are very few in the history of American cinema that could absolutely nail the movie star roles and the serious acting roles. Kilmer would be on that very short list.
Some of our favorite Kilmer roles here at Chief include obviously Top Gun, The Doors where he nailed the role of Jim Morrison, his portrayal of Elvis in the cult classic True Romance, Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Batman in Batman Forever where he replaced Michael Keaton in that version of the franchise and Heat where he starred alongside Robert De Niro as a member of a Los Angeles-based criminal gang.
Heat is a Chief favorite as a movie and as we say during the “Fiver or Dimer” segments on JC and Morgan (the segment is about remote droppers and movies you’ve seen multiple times and will watch if they are on television) it’s a Ben Franklin (100 times may be a stretch).
Perhaps the best individual acting performance out of his many was in The Doors, an Oliver Stone biopic focused on Morrison’s short but impactful life. There simply was no way to cast that part any better.
Kilmer also worked alongside perhaps the greatest actor of the 20th century, Marlon Brando, in The Island of Doctor Moreau.
Oh and how can we forget the 1980s classic “Real Genius”- what a flick complete with the iconic ending featuring the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. What a smart, humorous character performance that set Kilmer apart from many of the “Brat Pack” actors of that era in similar roles.
Willow was the one movie that we can safely say sucked that Kilmer starred in. It was not because of his performance, though.
