Val Kilmer was the prickly Hollywood playboy who rattled Tom Cruise & seduced A-list stars… before an emotional comeback
HE was the prickly Hollywood playboy who charmed some of the world’s most beautiful stars – and drove producers to despair.
Now, Val Kilmer, famed for his iconic performances in blockbusters like Top Gun and Batman Forever, has passed away at the age of 65.
The legendary actor died yesterday in Los Angeles due to complications from pneumonia, marking the end of a decades-long battle with health challenges that began in 2014 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
After undergoing aggressive treatment, which included a tracheotomy, chemotherapy and radiation, Kilmer was left with a permanent change to his voice, but his spirit remained unbroken.
And in 2022, he treated fans to the most heart-tugging reunion when he made a near-miraculous comeback in Top Gun: Maverick alongside his old sparring partner, Tom Cruise.
Grown men were left in tears watching the American star return to the role of cocksure Tom “Iceman” Kazansky that first made him famous in 1986.
The original transformed the then-unknown Kilmer into Hollywood’s hottest hunk, whose high-profile flings included Cher, Cindy Crawford, Daryl Hannah, Ellen Barkin, and Angelina Jolie.
But a reputation for being difficult to work with, financial woes and a brush with death appeared to wreck all hopes of ever seeing Kilmer in a blockbuster again.
Thanks, though, due to radical new artificial voice technology the actor was able to talk again.
Despite that, convincing the sequel’s producers that he was fit to return to active duty was a tough task for the never-say-die movie veteran.
Kilmer insisted, rightly, that there was no Top Gun without Iceman.
He stated: “Tom was Maverick, but Maverick’s nemesis was Iceman. The two went together like salt and pepper.
“It didn’t matter that the producers didn’t contact me. As the Temptations sang in the heyday of Motown soul, ‘ain’t too proud to beg.'”
Thought Top Gun was ‘silly’
That certainly wasn’t Kilmer’s attitude when he read the script for the original.
He thought it was “silly” and had to accept the role because he was under contract with the studio.
At that point Kilmer had only appeared in two comedies, Top Secret! And Real Genius.
The precocious, then 26-year-old, newcomer didn’t play it safe, choosing to ad-lib lines and deliberately create off-screen tension with Cruise.
He reportedly formed a team Iceman camp to rival anyone on the Maverick side and went off partying while Cruise diligently learned his script.
Kilmer said: “Tom refrained from our revelry, with good reason. From day one, he was laser-focused on a singular goal – to become the greatest action hero in the history of film.”
Reluctantly taking the role proved to be a fortuitous break because Top Gun was the biggest box office hit of 1986 and Kilmer’s line “you can be my wingman any time” is part of pop culture.
‘I have behaved poorly’
Two years later the ladies’ man met his future wife, British actress Joanne Whalley, on the set of Willow and they had two children, Mercedes and Jack.
His insistence on staying in character caused problems both for his marriage and his co-stars.
For the whole year he played tragic rocker Jim Morrison in The Doors he didn’t break out of the part on set or at home or prize himself out of the same leather trousers.
During an audition for the 1991 film with actress Caitlin O’Heaney he allegedly got so caught up in the moment that he slapped her, which resulted in a financial settlement.
Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher described Kilmer, who only played the caped crusader once, as “psychotic” and The Island of Dr Moreau director John Frankenheimer said: “There are two things I will never ever do in my whole life: I will never climb Mt. Everest and I will never work with Val Kilmer ever again.”
Kilmer acknowledged that, perhaps, he overstepped the mark now and again.
He said in a recent documentary: “I have behaved poorly, I have behaved bravely, I have behaved bizarrely to some”.
Left playboy life behind
The women in his life have seen a different side to the troubled actor.
His actress daughter Mercedes, who was so close to her dad that she lived next door to him in California, said: “I think he has the reputation of being difficult, which is deserved and undeserved.”
Kilmer told how he was in love with former girlfriends, such as supermodel Crawford, and many of them remained close friends.
While his split from Whalley in 1996 proved to be acrimonious, tensions eventually cooled and they remained in regular contact.
Val's Hollywood loves
- Cher – In the early 1980s, Kilmer was introduced to singer and actress Cher. Initially skeptical about meeting her, he soon discovered her to be “the funniest person you’ll ever meet.” Their relationship blossomed, leading Kilmer to move into Cher’s residence at Caesars Palace during her Las Vegas residency. He reflected, “Cher trafficked an intoxicating glamour and I, a Valley boy, fell under her spell.” Despite parting ways romantically, they maintained a lifelong friendship.
- Michelle Pfeiffer – Kilmer’s connection with actress Michelle Pfeiffer began in 1985 on the set of “One Too Many.” Although brief, their relationship was significant during that period.
- Joanne Whalley – While filming “Willow” in 1987, Kilmer met British actress Joanne Whalley. Their on-set chemistry led to marriage in 1988. The couple had two children: daughter Mercedes, born in 1991, and son Jack, born in 1995. Despite their shared experiences, the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
- Cindy Crawford – Following his divorce, Kilmer was linked to supermodel Cindy Crawford. He admired her deeply, expressing: “I thought I could have died from her love because its delight was simply too much to bear.” However, their demanding careers made sustaining the relationship challenging.
- Angelina Jolie – In 2004, on the set of “Alexander,” Kilmer met actress Angelina Jolie. He described her as “perhaps the most soulful and serious of them all,” noting: “She’s like other women and other superstars but just more. More gorgeous. More wise. More tragic. More magic. More grounded.” Their relationship was brief but left a lasting impression on Kilmer.
- Daryl Hannah – Kilmer’s relationship with actress Daryl Hannah in 2001 was particularly impactful. He confessed: “Lord knows I’ve suffered heartache. But Daryl was by far the most painful of all.” He continued: “I knew I would love her with my whole heart forever and that love has lost none of its strength. I am still in love with Daryl.” The breakup was so devastating that Kilmer admitted, “I cried every single day for half a year.”
Kilmer only learned that she had left him via the news and she sued him over alleged non-payment of child support in 2011.
In later years, though, he said: “Joanne and I have a tremendous respect for one another and she was and is a huge part of my life.”
The man who claimed to prefer the company of women to men remained, surprisingly, single in his last couple of decades.
In an interview in 2020 he said: “I haven’t had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is, part of every day I’m alone.”
Saved by Cher
It was singer Cher, who dated him in 1981, whose lasting devotion proved to be crucial to his survival.
Around 2015 Kilmer was living alone in a cottage in Malibu, Los Angeles, short of funds because a property deal in New Mexico had cost him millions in the property crash seven years earlier.
A lump in his throat that was making it difficult to swallow grew into a deadly tumour that could no longer go untreated.
I haven’t had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is, part of every day I’m alone
Val Kilmer
That became clear to Kilmer on the day he awakened in a pool of the blood he had coughed up.
“I presumed this was the day of my death”, he wrote in his autobiography I’m Your Huckleberry.
After calling an ambulance he crawled up the stairs of his home to the road so that the paramedics could find him.
In order to save his life he was given an emergency tracheotomy at nearby Santa Monica hospital.
But he needed ongoing care if he was going to beat the cancer and it was Cher who organised for him to be transferred to David Geffen’s School of Medicine at UCLA.
For the next two months he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment before leaving to convalesce at Cher’s Malibu guest house
He wrote: “Once Cher works her way inside your head and heart, she never leaves.”
When fellow star Michael Douglas revealed in 2016 that Kilmer had cancer he denied it, before revealing the truth a year later.
And he became more open about his struggles.
In a documentary titled Val there was footage of him throwing up after signing autographs while sitting in a wheelchair at the fan convention Comic-Con.
But the religious actor wouldn’t credit medicine with his renewed state of well-being.
He believed that by praying to God his cancer had healed “much faster than any of the doctors predicted.”
What can’t be denied is that technology gave him the ability for his voice to be heard once more.
A company called Sonantic took old voice recordings of Kilmer and used artificial intelligence to turn them into words played through a speaker.
He said: “I was struck by throat cancer. After being treated, my voice as I knew it was taken away from me.
“People around me struggle to understand me when I’m talking. But despite all that I still feel I’m the exact same person.”
Kilmer, who wore scarves to cover up his tracheotomy, insisted he felt far healthier than he looked.
That allowed him to play an older, wiser Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick.
He concluded: “The characters never really go away. They live on, in deep freeze. If you’ll pardon the pun.”