Posted on 04/01/2025 9:41:56 PM PDT by Macho MAGA Man
Val Kilmer, a homegrown Hollywood actor who tasted leading-man stardom as Jim Morrison and Batman, but whose protean gifts and elusive personality also made him a high-profile supporting player, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 65.
The cause was pneumonia, said his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she said.
Tall and handsome in a rock-star sort of way, Mr. Kilmer was in fact cast as a rocker a handful of times early in his career, when he seemed destined for blockbuster success. He made his feature debut in a slapstick Cold War spy-movie spoof, “Top Secret!” (1984), in which he starred as a crowd-pleasing, hip-shaking American singer in Berlin unwittingly involved in an East German plot to reunify the country.
He gave a vividly stylized performance as Morrison, the emblem of psychedelic sensuality, in Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” (1991)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Rest In Peace, Val Kilmer.
Val also did a phenomenal job in “The Ghost And The Darkness”.
Too young.
His character in “Top Gun Maverick” was extremely ill and died; I think he played an Admiral in that movie who was protecting Maverick.
Hasta La Vista, Val.
Always kind of liked him, even going back to “Top Secret” and “Real Genius”, and :”Willow”.
And yeah, his portrayal of “Doc Holiday” was beyond superb and iconic..
Damn it, I loved him in the doors.
RIP iceman.
I’m your huckleberry.
“The Doors” movie sucked big time when it could and should have been done so much better.
I blame Oliver Stone for that.
I thought it was great.
Although somewhat historically inaccurate.
Pamela Morrison's parents own half of Jim Morrison's estate (the other half belonging to Morrison's parents). Pamela's parents would not approve licensing Morrison's recordings for the film if Pamela was portrayed as a manipulative heroin addict (which she was). So she was portrayed as squeaky clean by Meg Ryan.
And Patricia Kennealy claimed that Morrison took their pagan marriage seriously; that Stone's portrayal of Morrison as laughing off their marriage, doing it as a joke, was a lie by Stone.
He was an avid video recorder and film collector from when he was quite young. His relatively recent biography is worth watching.
Ray Manzarek hated it too. He thought it showed the pop culture view of Morrison and not the actual person. Morrison was actually a very well read guy who was one of the few 60s rockers to graduate from college.
You’re my huckleberry.
Rip!
That sucks. He was an awesome actor and I really enjoyed his movies. Doc Holliday comes to mine. Heat was another awesome movie as well.
Rest in peace
RIP
Morrison employed poetry into his music. That was a first.
There will always be only ONE James Bond...Sean Connery
...and yet, there will always be only ONE Simon Templar, Roger Moore
...and yet, there will always be only ONE Doc Holliday, Val Kilmer...
Great roles, great actors....RIP all.
Wasn’t Morrison’s dad an admiral in the Navy when Vietnam broke out?
Willow was another great one. And that’s the movie he met his wife in.
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