'There Wasn't Anyone Quite Like Val Kilmer': Hollywood Pays Tribute To Late On-Screen Icon

Kilmer, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered, died Tuesday from pneumonia. He was 65.

Friends, fans and former collaborators are paying tribute to “Top Gun” star Val Kilmer, who died Tuesday from pneumonia, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times. The acting icon, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered, was 65.

Kilmer broke into Hollywood with 1980s comedies like “Top Secret!” and “Real Genius,” but quickly became a leading man to contend with — going toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise in 1986’s “Top Gun,” as well as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s “Heat” (1995).

“I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” Mann told The Hollywood Reporter. “After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”

Kilmer’s courage in the face of cancer was chronicled in the 2021 documentary “Val.” The following year, he reprised his role as Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in “Top Gun: Maverick,” allowing for a sweet on-screen reunion with Cruise — in what became Kilmer’s final film.

His friend and fellow actor Josh Brolin shared a heartfelt tribute Tuesday on Instagram.