The brilliant and versatile actor Val Kilmer has sadly passed away.
He died on April 1, 2025, at the age of 65. He was surrounded by his friends and family. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies and died from pneumonia.
Kilmer, at 17, was the youngest actor ever accepted into the Juilliard when he attended. His break came when he was 24 years old in “Top Secret!”. His movie career hit its peak in the early 1990s when he starred in “Tombstone” and as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance”.
He played hotshot pilot Tom “Iceman” Kasansky in 1986’s “Top Gun”. This role almost didn’t happen. He was courted by the director but initially balked because he didn’t care about it and didn’t want the part. He only agreed once the director promised to improve his role.
