In Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, Val Kilmer’s Iceman, now an admiral, sits at a computer and types what he wants to say to Tom Cruise’s Maverick, because he can no longer speak. The scene reflected Kilmer’s own life: throat cancer had taken most of his voice years earlier. He died of pneumonia in Los Angeles on April 1, 2025, his daughter Mercedes told The New York Times. He was 65.
Juilliard to Top Gun
Kilmer was born in Los Angeles on December 31, 1959, and at 17 became one of the youngest students ever admitted to the drama division of the Juilliard School. His first film was the spy spoof Top Secret! in 1984. Two years later he played Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Maverick’s rival, in Top Gun, the biggest film of 1986, and he followed it with the fantasy adventure Willow.
Morrison, Holliday and Batman
In 1991 he played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, learning to sing so convincingly that surviving band members said they could not always tell his voice from Morrison’s. In Tombstone in 1993 he played the dying gunfighter Doc Holliday, and his line “I’m your huckleberry” became one of the most quoted of the decade. He was Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever in 1995 and starred opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat the same year. He developed a reputation for being difficult on set, which he later acknowledged.
Cancer and Val
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and had a tracheotomy that left him speaking with great difficulty. The 2021 documentary Val, built from decades of his own home video, told the story of his life and illness. For Top Gun: Maverick, artificial intelligence was used to help recreate his voice. He was survived by his children, Mercedes and Jack, from his marriage to the actress Joanne Whalley.
Kilmer’s last great screen moment was one in which he barely spoke, reunited on screen with the co-star he had played opposite 36 years earlier.