Val Kilmer will always be known for his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazanski in Top Gun — which featured all things cool; fighter jets, aircraft carriers, aviator sunglasses, dogfights, and wristwatches.

Led by Tom Cruise, Top Gun (1986) helped propel Kilmer into stardom. Naturally, many of the tributes to him reference the Hollywood blockbuster. Yet many of his performances in roles after Top Gun — The Doors (1991), Tombstone (1993), Batman Forever (1995), and Heat (1995) — were as good or better. 

It’s been reported that Kilmer prepared for his role as Jim Morrison so intently that the surviving members of The Doors band could not distinguish his voice from Morrison’s. As a huge fan of The Doors growing up and watching The Doors (1991) movie, thanks to Kilmer, I felt like I was watching the real Jim Morrison. His portrayal of Morrison was as legendary as it gets.

With Tombstone (1993), a film loaded with talent, Kilmer’s Doc Holliday stole every scene he was in. His Tombstone co-star, Michael Biehn, said, “People ask me what it’s like to work with Val Kilmer. I don’t know. Never met him. Never shook his hand. I know Doc Holliday, but I don’t know Kilmer.” It was the best type of onscreen entertainment, in an era before the internet, MP3s, smartphones, and streaming.

Kilmer was the youngest actor ever to attend Julliard, at age 17. From that point on he starred in countless film and television roles (Wikipedia), wrote poetry, painted, and from what I can tell, never stopped being creative.

He unequivocally should have won an Oscar for his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors and Doc Holiday in Tombstone. At least MTV got it right, and he received MTV’s Best Male Actor awards for both.

Even after being diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, he went on to make a movie with his daughter Mercedes called Paydirt (2020), a Netflix documentary Val (2021), and a cameo in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

Artists can be difficult to work with — especially intense method actors — but look at the results. Kilmer was an accomplished creative genius who defined cool. Rest in peace, Iceman, Jim, Doc, Bruce, Chris, Val.

 

Top photo: Val Kilmer pictured with a Rolex GMT-Master during Top Gun.