Val Kilmer, Star of 'Batman Forever,' 'Tombstone,' Dies at 65
Source: Variety
Apr 1, 2025 9:04pm PT
Mark Humphrey/AP/REX/Shutterstoc
Val Kilmer, who played Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever, channeled Jim Morrison in Oliver Stones The Doors and starred as a tubercular Doc Holliday in Tombstone, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. His daughter Mercedes told The New York Times the cause was pneumonia. He was 65. He had been battling throat cancer for several years.
Kilmers reps did not immediately respond to Varietys request for comment.
The baby-faced blonde actor had a solid run as a leading man with a volatile reputation in the 80s and 90s, starring in Top Gun, Real Genius, Willow, Heat, and The Saint. He returned briefly to screens in 2022s Top Gun: Maverick although he could no longer speak due to his cancer.
In 2021, a documentary on his life, Val, was released. His son provided the actors voice and the film utilized hundreds of hours of video he had recorded over the years, giving a revealing look at the sets he worked on and showing the actor to be an introspective thinker with an artists soul.
Read more: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/val-kilmer-dead-batman-forever-tombstone-1236354606/
Wow. Lost track of him and didn't realize what was going on. R.I.P.

lapfog_1
(30,748 posts)because it was only a slight exaggeration of my college experience hanging out with a group of very smart people... and pulling the college pranks that they portrayed in the film ( only not with lasers! ). Also the adjunct story line of the professor getting "grant" money from the government and having his grad students and undergrads do the work for peanuts ( sometimes no money at all ).
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)way way back in the day. That was during the Raygun (namesake) SDI ("Star Wars" ) era.
Now 40 years later, someone (China and/or Russia?) finally has something like that working in orbit.
lapfog_1
(30,748 posts)and they use it to start forest fires or zap election machines or something
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)
UpInArms
(52,456 posts)Rip
dear Val
True Dough
(22,511 posts)A great actor. RIP!
GB_RN
(3,324 posts)Loved him as Doc Holliday.
Paladin
(29,965 posts)His Doc Holliday portrayal is one for the ages.
YoshidaYui
(43,434 posts)radicalleft
(524 posts)So sad to see him gone.
RIP
edit:sp
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)I remember re-watching the original when I had been putting together my own "budget high end" home theater in the mid-'90s and the sound was fantastic. Both he and Tom Cruise created some legendary characters.
BlueKota
(4,140 posts)wolfie001
(4,391 posts)I really didn't watch any of his movies, but he was a major star for quite a while. All of the sudden he looked 20 years older than he actually was. Another example was Jack Lord. Always in great shape, then one day he's in National Enquirer looking way older and decrepit. As a 65-year-old myself, aging is a beast.
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)Jack Lord is a "blast from the past"!!!
wolfie001
(4,391 posts)
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)

wolfie001
(4,391 posts)The '70s are so under-rated!
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)



wolfie001
(4,391 posts)"Who Loves Ya Baby"
BumRushDaShow
(149,992 posts)(mahatmakanejeeves )
wolfie001
(4,391 posts)Thanks for allowing me to run up my post totals 'cause I've been around here forever and retired a year and some months ago. Finally, really looking through the site and contributing. Always love it here and discovered it way back when in the early 2000s. Cheers and keep up the great work!
rickyhall
(5,033 posts)OnlinePoker
(5,931 posts)He should have won best supporting actor for that.
sinkingfeeling
(54,825 posts)a devastating disease. Loved him in both "Top Gun" movies.
Danascot
(4,997 posts)Rendville
(118 posts)Part Sioux-FBI Agent Val Kilmer/Ray Levoi is sent to investigate a murder on a South Dakota Reservation.
The Reservation Police played by Graham Greene views Ray as an outsider.
But the Tribal Elder Sam Reaches believes Ray Levoi to be the reincarnated spirit of Thunderheart.
An 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre Native American Hero.