Val Kilmer was one of Hollywood’s most bankable and versatile actors before his death from pneumonia aged 65.
Known to mass audiences for his roles in blockbusters Top Gun and Batman, Kilmer had a diverse acting career, including roles in films ranging from the Western, Tombstone, to crime drama, Heat.
But the legendary actor did not just restrict himself to mainstream movies and also dabbled in arthouse productions, with cult film fans praising his standout performances in Willow and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
In his final years, due to ill health after recovering from throat cancer, Kilmer took a step back from the limelight, but his last role was in 2022 was a cameo in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Here are Kilmer’s 7 best film performances.
Top Gun
After declining roles in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders and David Lynch film Blue Velvet, Kilmer had his breakout role in Top Gun.
In the 1986 action film, he played naval aviator Iceman alongside Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell.
Kilmer’s last acting role before his death was a cameo in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Batman Forever
In 1995, Kilmer starred as Batman in the film Batman Forever after taking over the role from Michael Keaton.
However, he decided against returning for a second Batman film, paving the way for George Clooney’s interpretation of the superhero.
In 2020, Kilmer explained his departure, saying that he became disinterested in Batman after investor Warren Buffett’s grandchildren visited the set and paid more attention to playing with the props than him.
Willow
For cult film fans, Kilmer is best known as mercenary swordsman Madmartigan in the 1988 film Willow.
In the high fantasy adventure movie from Ron Howard, his character teams up with Willow (Warwick Davis), an aspiring magician who is protecting a young baby princess from an evil queen.
In 2022, Kilmer was forced to pull out of the Disney Plus reboot of Willow ‘pretty late in the process’ as filming amid the pandemic posed a risk to his health.
Tombstone
In 1993, Kilmer appeared as the hard-drinking, sickly Doc Holliday alongside the likes of Kurt Russell in the Western, Tombstone.
His character became known for the catchphrase ‘I’m your huckleberry’, and the quote became the title of Kilmer’s 2020 memoir.
In his book, Kilmer reflected on playing Doc Holliday and wrote: ‘His tongue is more lethal than his pistol. Throughout the drama, he’s dying of both drink and tuberculosis.
‘In playing him, I thought of what my dear friend the great screenplay writer Robert Towne had taught me: all insightful dialogue comes out of situations, not predeveloped thought. In that regard, I saw Doc’s situation as dire. I also saw his action as defiance in the face of death. I loved him.’
The Doors
Kilmer went method for his role as The Doors frontman James Morrison in the 1991 Oliver Stone music biopic.
In the year before production, the actor began dressing like the influential musician and would hang out at his regular haunts on LA’s Sunset Strip.
It was reported that Kilmer needed therapy after The Doors to rid himself of Morrison.
Heat
Kilmer joined acting greats Al Pacino and Robert De Niro playing Chris Shiherlis in Heat, one of the most influential crime drama films of all time.
In a Reddit thread, the actor recalled his experience working with the pair, saying: ‘Well imagine being able to say, “Al and Bob” for the rest of your life. Not many people can do that
‘I have seen Bob, giggling like a school girl in a van in the middle of the night, because we have to be quiet cause they are filming outside. I have been hugged by Al Pacino in the middle of downtown LA like he was my older brother.’
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
In the 2005 neo-noir black comedy crime film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Vilmer played private investigator Gay Perry van Shrike.
The character teams up with Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr), a petty thief posing as an actor, who ends up in the middle of a murder investigation after an audition for a film.
In a 2020 interview with Joe Rogan, Downey Jr described Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as ‘in some ways the best film I’ve ever done.’
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