Well-known Hollywood actor Val Kilmer, who, among other things, played Batman and Jim Morrison in his long career, has died at the age of 65 in Los Angeles.
According to his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, Kilmer died of pneumonia.
It is recalled that in 2014, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer but managed to recover.
Val Kilmer made his film debut in the 1984 film Top Secret, where he played an American singer in Berlin who becomes unwittingly involved in an East German plot to reunify the country.
In 1991, he transformed into the iconic Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's "The Doors" (1991), and two years later he starred in "True Romance," a violent drug-chasing adventure written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott.
He had been in the spotlight since 1992 with "Thunderheart," where he played the role of an inexperienced FBI agent investigating a murder at an Indian encampment in South Dakota.
In 1995, he appeared as Batman in the film Batman Forever alongside the "villains" Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey, with the film, however, not being the greatest success.
Among the roles that marked Val Kilmer's career was that of pilot Tom Iceman Kazanski as Tom Cruise's adversary in Top Gun, a role he initially turned down, but after the great success he reprised in 2022 in Top Gun: Maverick.
The death of his brother that marked him
Val Edward Kilmer, as his full name was, was born in Los Angeles on December 31, 1959, and grew up in the northwest section of the city. His father, Eugene, who was a real estate agent, and his mother divorced when Val was 9.
This was followed by the death of his younger brother, Wesley, who drowned in a swimming pool in 1977, an event that haunted the then 18-year-old Val for many years.
His memories of that loss were central to his performance in the film “The Salton Sea” (2002), about a guilt-ridden man seeking redemption after witnessing his wife’s murder and being unable to save her. “There are several points in the film where the guy just can’t go on,” Mr. Kilmer told the New York Times in 2002. “I didn’t really come back to earth until about two or three years after my brother died.”
Started at 17 years old
At the age of 17, he applied to the Juilliard School in New York and was accepted, making Val Kilmer one of the youngest people ever accepted into the relevant acting program.
He made his Broadway debut in 1983 in “The Slab Boys,” a drama about young workers in a Scottish carpet factory, which also starred Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.
His wedding
In 1988, Val Kilmer married British actress Joanne Whaley, whom he had met on the set of Ron Howard's children's fantasy film, "Willow" (1988).
In their 8 years together, they had two children, Mercedes and Jack, before separating in 1996, citing "irreconcilable differences."
Source: protothema.gr
