He was Batman and played in several timeless Hollywood classics

One of the biggest Hollywood stars left us: Val Kilmer. The American actor died on April 1, 2025 at the age of 65, as his daughter confirmed to the New York Times. The death report comes after a long fight against larynx cancer in recent years.

Val Kilmer was born in Los Angeles on December 31, 1959 and visited the chatwork high school there. He later went to the Hollywood Professional School and was accepted at the age of 17 as the youngest person at the time in the drama department of the prestigious Schauspiel School Juilliard.

Val Kilmer made one of the steepest acting careers and became the greatest Hollywood star of the 90s

His Hollywood career began in 1984 with the Slapstick comedy Top Secret!, After he was already on stage at various theater productions. Two years later, the next film followed with a “top” in the title, which finally converted it into one of the most sought-after new leading man of the dream factory: Top Gun by Tony Scott.

It is the first of many milestones in which Kilmer could be seen on the big screen in the coming years. For Ron Howard he was in front of the camera in Willow. Directed by Oliver Stone, he brought the Doors Frontman Jim Morrison to life. And he worked with Michael Mann in the course of Heat.

Kilmer was one of the largest Hollywood stars of the 1990s and landed iconic roles like Doc Holliday in Tombstone and Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever. With Kilmer’s name alone, entire blockbuster projects could be waved through. In the 2000s, however, the box office hits became rarer in his filmography.

The end of Kilmer’s Hollywood high phase and its touching canvas offset with TOP GUN: Maverick

Nevertheless, he continued to participate in many major productions, from the sci-fi adventure Red Planet to the monumental film Alexander, who was also staged by Stone. Kilmer likes to return to directors with whom he had a basis of trust from Howard (The Missing) to Scott (True Romance, Déjà Vu).

Three films from his recent filmography should not be left unmentioned: the Buddy comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by Shane Black, the existential cop thriller Bad Lieutenant by Werner Herzog and the idiosyncratic horror fairy tale by Francis Ford Coppola-every film with an unmistakable Kilmer performance.

Kilmer had his last appearance in the action continuation Top Gun: Maverick. Due to his cancer, he was only seen for a scene with his former canvas partner Tom Cruise. But like a few, this scene burned into film history. Rarely was a cameo -touching.

Now is the moment when Maverick (Cruise) is looking for advice from his old friend and colleague Iceman (Kilmer) after a number of tricky events, as a heartbreaking farewell at the end of an extremely remarkable career, which can be used to understand the Hollywood story of the last four decades.