American actor Val Kilmer, who famously played Batman in Batman Forever, has died. He was 65. The news of his death was confirmed to the New York Times by his daughter Mercedes Kilmer. The actor reportedly died due to pneumonia. Kilmer had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered.

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Kilmer was one of Hollywood’s most prominent leading men in the 1990s before numerous spats with directors and co-stars and a series of flops dented his career. Over the years, Kilmer gained a reputation as temperamental, intense, perfectionistic, and sometimes egotistical.

Early beginnings

Originally a stage actor, Kilmer got his start on the big screen with the Cold War spoof Top Secret! in 1984. Two years later, he gained fame as the cocky, if mostly silent aviator Iceman in Top Gun, playing a rival to Tom Cruise's Maverick. 

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Kilmer was considered the most versatile among his contemporaries. He got a shot at leading man roles in Oliver Stone's The Doors and famously played the masked Gotham vigilante in Batman Forever, playing Bruce Wayne after Michael Keaton and before George Clooney in the film Batman Forever.

Here's where to watch Oscar-winning Tom Cruise film Top Gun: Maverick online

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Leading roles, cancer and later years

Kilmer was the youngest person ever accepted to New York's fabled Juilliard school and longed to make serious films. But he found himself in a series of schlocky blockbusters and expensive flops in the early 2000s.

Chastened by a decade or more of low-budget movies, he was mounting a comeback in the 2010s with a successful stage show about Mark Twain that he hoped to turn into a film, when he was struck by cancer. 

Val Kilmer reveals he would like to play 'Batman' again

Val, a documentary about his stratospheric rise and later fall in Hollywood showed him rasping for air, premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2021.

Kilmer was last seen in a cameo reprising his role as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick in 2021, the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 hit. His character died mid-way into the film.

Also see: Remembering Val Kilmer (1959-2025): 7 essential films of the actor that you need to watch

(With agency inputs)