Actor Val Kilmer, star of 'Batman Forever', dies at 65, NYT reports

2/4/2025 13:18

Val Kilmer, the California-born, Juilliard-trained actor who starred in films including "Top Gun," "The Doors," "Tombstone" and "Batman Forever" and earned a reputation as a Hollywood bad boy, has died, the New York Times reported. He was 65.



The cause of death was pneumonia, the paper said, citing his daughter Mercedes Kilmer.



Kilmer was one of Hollywood's most prominent leading men in the 1990s before numerous spats with directors and co-stars and a series of flops dented his career.



He made his film debut starring in the spy spoof "Top Secret!" (1984) before appearing in the goofy comedy "Real Genius" (1985). He rocketed to stardom as Tom Cruise's co-star in the smash 1986 hit "Top Gun" (1986), playing naval aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, and decades later appeared alongside Cruise again in the 2022 sequel "Top Gun: Maverick."



Kilmer starred in director Ron Howard's fantasy "Willow" (1988) and married his British co-star Joanne Whalley, with whom he had two children before divorcing.