Val Kilmer, who died at 65 on Tuesday, donned Batman’s cape, starred as a gunslinger, flew supersonic fighter jets in “Top Gun” and held the screen as a bumbling singer in a slapstick comedy about the Cold War.
Kilmer was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1980s and ’90s and then exited stage left for more than a decade. His career was disrupted by throat cancer and a tracheotomy, but he had already left his mark with a series of notable performances.
“Once you’re a star, you’re always a star,” he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2012.
Here are six of his most memorable roles:
‘Batman Forever’
Kilmer replaced Michael Keaton as Batman, stepping into the film franchise as it transitioned from the gloomy atmosphere of Tim Burton to the campier direction of Joel Schumacher. Kilmer’s Caped Crusader in “Batman Forever” (1995) was stoic enough. But the tone of the film was set early, when Batman’s butler, Alfred, asked him if he needed a sandwich as he got into the Batmobile. “I’ll get drive-through,” Kilmer deadpanned.
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‘Top Gun’
Perhaps Kilmer’s best-known role was Iceman, the cocky pilot who rivals Tom Cruise’s character in “Top Gun” (1986), the adrenaline-pumping film about fighter pilots in training. With aviators on, hair thickly gelled and a crisp white uniform, Iceman is a smooth-talking pilot with skills to match. “It’s the way he flies,” the character Goose says in one scene. “Ice-cold. No mistakes.” Kilmer reprised the role in the 2022 sequel.
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‘Heat’
Kilmer plays Robert De Niro’s right-hand man as the two thieves try to pull off heist after heist in a cat-and-mouse game with a police officer played by Al Pacino. “Heat” (1995) has two memorable scenes, an epic shootout and a conversation between Pacino and De Niro in a coffee shop. But as the third fiddle, Kilmer offers up a softer aspect of the film in an oft-quoted conversation with De Niro about his relationship. “Allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner,” De Niro advises. “For me, the sun rises and sets with her, man,” Kilmer responds.
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‘The Doors’
One of Kilmer’s most celebrated performances was in the role of Jim Morrison, the musician and frontman of the 1960s rock group The Doors. In the 1991 film, directed by Oliver Stone, Kilmer gave a vividly stylized performance opposite Meg Ryan (who played Pamela Courson, Morrison’s partner). The movie covers the years when Morrison was a film student in Los Angeles through his death in Paris in 1971 at age 27. Kilmer sang his own vocals in the performance, which was widely praised by critics.
Stream, rent or buy it on Prime, YouTube or Fandango.
‘Tombstone’
Kilmer would later title his memoir after a line he delivers in “Tombstone” (1993), a bloody western in which he plays the urbane, profligate gunslinger Doc Holliday. Even as he executes a number of heroic deeds throughout the film, Holliday is a jaundiced, perspiring wreck who is clearly drinking himself to death. “I’m your huckleberry,” Kilmer says, once in an early scene and again in a climactic confrontation.
Stream, rent or buy it on Disney+, Prime, YouTube, Apple TV or Fandango.
‘Willow’
Kilmer plays the longhaired, bare-chested warrior Madmartigan, whom the titular character teams up with to guard a baby and defeat an evil queen. It was during the filming of “Willow” (1988) that Kilmer met his wife, Joanne Whalley, whom he later divorced. She played the evil queen’s daughter, and the love interest of Kilmer’s character.
Stream, rent or buy it on Disney+, Prime, Apple TV or Fandango.
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Hank Sanders
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news. More about Yan Zhuang
Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news. More about Claire Moses
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