For working in the news, I'm not a huge follower of Hollywood. I generally don't remember the names of actors and I don't keep up with any of the gossip.
But sometimes, an actor's skill is so great that you can't forget his name.
Kilmer had been battling throat cancer for the last decade and succumbed to a bout of pneumonia. He was 65 years old.
A lifelong Christian Scientist, Kilmer was unwilling to confirm his cancer diagnosis when it was revealed by Michael Douglas in 2016. He combined his fascination with Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy with his love of Mark Twain in a screenplay that featured the two figures.
Christian Science is similar to the "Word of Faith" movement pushed by TV "faith healers" like Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers, and Kenneth Copeland (along with others like Trump's spiritual advisor, Paula White). It sees physical illness as an illusion that comes from incorrect thinking. This is why Kilmer eventually referred to it as "the suggestion of throat cancer" when speaking to the press - because thoughts and feelings, in his mind, literally control reality ("name it and claim it").
But I'm not here to hash out Kilmer's beliefs. He had many critics, notably one of the directors on the Batman Forever film...
There are two things I will never ever do in my whole life. The first is that I will never climb Mt. Everest. The second is that I will never work with Val Kilmer ever again.
...but his tradecraft surpassed that. Like Tom Cruise (let's not even get into his religious beliefs), Kilmer had that "star" quality that seems to be dwindling in Tinseltown today.
As a millennial, the first film I ever saw him in was Batman Forever, a film that had me making a homemade Batman costume for Halloween in 1995.
His role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in Top Gun put him at the center of the American ethos and identity.
For me, the role that will always define him was his unbelievably excellent portrayal of Doc Holliday, AKA dentist John Henry Holliday, one of the deputies involved in the infamous O.K. Corral shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881.
Actor James Wood said it best.
Kilmer also had central roles in True Romance (1993), Heat (1995), The Saint (1997), and more, but his other role that was central to me personally was portraying Moses in the 1998 biblical epic, The Prince of Egypt.
When Kilmer reprised his role in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), his character was struggling with - and eventually died from - throat cancer, mirroring Kilmer's own condition.
Kilmer is survived by his two children, Mercedes and Jack.
May he rest in peace.
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