23 hours Ago By Jacob Stolworthy
Val Kilmer ’s cause of death has been revealed by his daughter in an emotional tribute to the actor. Tributes are pouring in for the Top Gun and Batman Forever actor after Mercedes Kilmer announced the news on Wednesday (2 April) . Mercedes confirmed to press that her father, whose other credits included True Romance and Heat , died of pneumonia .
He was 65. Kilmer’s death comes after health struggles, documented in 2021 film Val . He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and lost his voice after undergoing a tracheotomy.
He initially kept the diagnosis private, but came forward with his story to spread awareness of the disease. Kilmer was believed to be healthy again and, a few months back, nostalgically recalled his role in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 Batman film in what would be his final Instagram video . Josh Brolin and Heat director Michael Mann led the tributes to Kilmer, with the former hailing him as “a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker”, adding: “There’s not a lot left of those.
” Brolin continued: See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there.
Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.” Meanwhile, Mann recalled working with Kilmer on Heat , which also starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. He told The Hollywood Reporter : “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.” Kilmer was one of Hollywood ’s biggest actors in the 1990s before spats with directors and co-stars and a series of flops dented his career. Over the years, Kilmer gained a reputation as a temperamental, intense, perfectionist , which was exemplified with his performance as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors .
Kilmer reportedly recorded an eight-minute audition tape to convince Stone to cast him. He then lost weight and spent six months training his singing voice for the film, going on to perform 15 of the 50 songs he rehearsed for the film. In a Reddit Q&A Kilmer did in 2017, he tried to explain his reputation for being “difficult to work with”, writing: “I didn’t do enough hand holding and flattering and reassuring to the financier.
I only cared about the acting and that didn’t translate to caring about the film or all that money. “I like to take risks and this often gave the impression I was willing to risk their money not being returned, which was foolish of me. I understand that now.
And sometimes when you are the head of a project and the lead actor is usually the reason a film is being made, unless it’s a superstar director, then only fair to make people feel good and happy they are at work. I was often unhappy trying to make pictures better.” Mercedes is Kilmer’s daughter with his ex-wife, Joanne Whalley, with whom he also has son, Jack.
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