'Top Gun' and Batman star Val Kilmer dies aged 65
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American actor Val Kilmer has died aged 65 from pneumonia, according to his daughter Mercedes Kilmer.
Kilmer passed away on Tuesday night in Los Angeles surrounded by family and friends.
The "Batman" and "The Doors" star had previously survived a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.
'I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,' the actor said of his life and career in a 2021 documentary. 'And I am blessed.'
Kilmer was the youngest actor to ever be accepted into the prestigious Julliard School at he time he attended.
He earned his big break in 1984's spy spoof "Top Secret!" followed by comedy "Real Genius" in 1985.
His career hit its peak in the early 1990s as he made a name for himself as leading man in 1993's "Tombstone", as Elvis' ghost in "True Romance" and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann's 1995 film "Heat" alongside industry heavyweights Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
Actor Val Kilmer, left, and producer Eddy Moretti pose for a portrait in New York, Tuesday, April 24, 2012.
Charles Sykes/AP
The actor was known for throwing himself into his roles, subscribing to the Method branch of Suzuki arts training. When playing Jim Morrison in "The Doors" he wore leather pants and asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as Jim Morrison throughout the duration of filming.
Kilmer's intensity gave him a reputation he was difficult to work with, something he grudgingly agreed with later in life. He defended himself by emphasising art should come before commerce.
'In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honour the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad of Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio,' he wrote in his memoir, 'I'm Your Huckleberry.'
One career nadir was playing the titular Batman in Joel Schumacher's goofy 'Batman Forever alongside Nicole Kidman, for which he received lacklustre reviews.
Kilmer blamed much of his performance on his suit.
'When you're in it, you can barely move and people have to help you stand up and sit down,' Kilmer is quoted as saying of the costume. "It was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit."
He is survived by his former wife Joanne Whalley and their two children, Mercedes and Jack.
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