Hollywood stars are mourning the death of Val Kilmer.
The Top Gun actor died of pneumonia on Tuesday, April 1, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times.
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and featured in a July 2021 documentary about his life, titled Val, which showed him requiring a breathing tube.
The actor was best known for his performances in 1986’s Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. He also portrayed Jim Morrison in 1991’s The Doors and Batman in 1995’s Batman Forever.
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Following news of Kilmer’s death, tributes have poured in from across Hollywood.
Keep scrolling to see how stars are paying tribute to and remembering Kilmer:
Jim Carrey
Kilmer’s Batman Forever costar shared a statement mourning the loss. “I’m remembering Val Kilmer today with great admiration for him as a man and as a generational talent who left us an enviable legacy of indelible acting performances,” Carrey said in a statement via USA Today. “His greatest artistic achievements were rivaled only by the grace and courage with which he endured his life’s most challenging moments. Wishing his family so much love.”
David Zucker
The Top Secret! director said he was shocked by the death of his former coworker and neighbor. “I am especially sad to hear of Val’s passing, and although we had been in communication over the years — we lived on the same street, shared an attorney and I was aware of his condition — I find myself still a bit shocked to lose him,” Zucker shared in a statement to Us Weekly. “My brother Jerry, Jim Abrahams and I, had the distinction of giving Val Kilmer his first movie role in Top Secret!. In his audition he broke into an impromptu Elvis song and blew us away!”
Debi Mazar
“So sad to hear that Val Kilmer has passed,” the Younger alum wrote via Instagram. “I met Val in 1984 ,in a dilapidated van that had a door missing.We had just attended Vincent Gallo’s wedding to a girl named Denise(?) in NYC. The van took a bunch of us to the wedding reception in Jamaica, Queens. Super fun memory of that day … Years later, I’d work with him in The Doors & Batman Forever.”
She added, “He was so talented & interesting. I know he struggled over the years with his health,and was a fighter. My condolences to his family & loved ones. May he R.I.P 
.”
Josh Brolin
“See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker,” Brolin captioned a photo of him posing with Kilmer via Instagram. “There’s not a lot left of those. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts. 
”
Michael Mann
Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, shared a photo of the actor via Instagram and captioned it, “While working with Val on Heat, I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
Francis Ford Coppola
The legendary filmmaker, who directed Kilmer in 2011’s Twixt, shared via Instagram, “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life. He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him.”
Jennifer Tilly
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member shared an anecdote about working with Kilmer in the film The Doors.
“A long time ago, I was auditioning for the movie The Doors … It was kind of a cattle call. They paired together potential Jims with potential Pamela‘s. And they were running behind so we were spilling out of the casting office, sitting on the porch, the lawn, and the driveway,” Tilly shared via X.
“All of a sudden, a sixties convertible came screeching up, blaring Doors Music at top volume. And a guy jumped out and strode inside: He had wild hair and he was barefoot, shirtless, and wearing nothing but a pair of tight leather pants,” she continued. “We all looked at each other like… Who is this guy? We were more than a little shook by the sheer audacity of his entrance. Well of course it was Val Kilmer and from that minute on, nobody else stood a chance.”
“Rip King,” the Oscar nominee concluded her post.
Matthew Modine
“RIP Val Kilmer. If it wasn’t for our chance encounter at the Source in 1985, I may never have been cast in FULL METAL JACKET,” the Stranger Things actor wrote via X. “Thanks, Val. 
”
Ralph Fiennes
“Val Kilmer rest in peace 
,” Kilmer’s Prince of Egypt voice costar shared via X.
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Josh Gad
“RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon,” the Frozen voice actor wrote alongside a photo of Kilmer in Top Gun shared via Instagram.
Danny Ramirez
The Top Gun: Maverick star recalled meeting Kilmer on the 2022 movie’s set in an Instagram Story tribute.
“In the brief time I spent with him on set, he was nothing but kind, joyous and playful. I felt lucky to be in the same room,” the actor wrote. “A brilliant and generous performer and one of the coolest to ever do it. Rest in peace, Val.”
Glen Powell
The Top Gun: Maverick star recalled a specific moment he had with Kilmer after the movie finished filming.
“There was this wonderful moment that I had with Val when we were leaving San Diego when we were shooting Top Gun: Maverick. And he was such a great guy and such a wonderful spirit and he and Tom [Cruise]’s friendship was just really incredible to witness,” Powell said during an appearance on Today With Jenna & Friends. “I was moving all my stuff out of the hotel, so it was, like, the last of it. I had all the stuff on a luggage cart. … The only thing on the luggage cart was weights, protein powder and tequila. And Val walked in the elevator.”
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Kilmer “bent over laughing” when seeing Powell’s belongings.
“And he goes, ‘That is Top Gun,’ and we took a picture together with all of it. It was just so sweet,” the actor continued. “I think he was a really kind man [and], obviously, a massive talent. But yeah, it’s a sad day for everyone. The Top Gun group thread is very active this morning with everyone just talking about what special memories we have of him. One of the greats.”
Karl Urban
“Val was one of the goodies. Challenging and challenger,” the actor shared via Instagram. “Brilliant, thoughtful , an uber talented artist. Funny as f*** and mercurial in spirit. Always enjoyed the time we shared & never missed an opportunity to do so.”
The actors starred together in 2008’s Comanche Moon.
“I’ll see ya down the trail pal,” Urban concluded. “Not too soon though.”
Hilarie Burton Morgan
The actress remembered Kilmer as “the sweetest man” in a lengthy Instagram tribute.
“I played @valkilmerofficial’s girlfriend in a movie back in 2009. The script called for us to have a fairly rowdy love scene that got interrupted by a phone call. I’d just come off of OTH where I was always put in some kind of compromising position,” she wrote. “So it was just work as usual. But then I got to set the day we were going to be shooting that scene and there was a scramble happening. ‘Val wants to change the scene.’”
She recalled him saying the “gratuitous sex scene” was “not interesting,” so they changed it.
“Instead, Val sent someone out to a local restaurant to pick up a huge tub of ribs. And so, as the camera panned up from the floor, our moans were those of two people, comfortable and indulgent, tangled up in bed and unfettered by the mess, elbows deep in North Carolina’s finest bbq,” she wrote. “It was infinitely more interesting and I felt so safe and cared for by that man.”
Burton Morgan added, “He made the scene about us instead of using me as a prop. That one day at work rewired my brain. Val was kind to me. A thoughtful artist. I bought some of his paintings a few years back. I hope every young actor has a Val in their life. That movie was a magical experience.”
Cher
Cher, who dated Kilmer from 1982 to 1984, paid tribute to the late star via X. “VALUS. [I] Will miss u,” she tweeted. “U Were [a] Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND.”
Cher noted, “kids
U,” and said her late ex was as “BRILLIANT as Mark Twain” and “BRAVE here during ur sickness,” referring to his throat cancer battle.
Christopher McDonald
“For most of us, a little piece of us died with the passing [of] Val Kilmer,” the Happy Gilmore actor wrote via X. “An icon that touched our lives in some way through his acting performances. He will be missed greatly. Rest easy Val.”
Danny Trejo
“Val Kilmer was a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine. May you rest in peace 
,” the actor wrote via Instagram.
Ben Stiller
Stiller honored the late star via X, writing, “I and so many will miss the great Val Kilmer who was kind and brilliant and incredibly cool. A beautiful creative artist whose work will live on. Sending love to his family
.”
Piers Morgan
“RIP Val Kilmer, 65. Played so many great roles but for me, he will always be Iceman,” the journalist wrote via X. “The way Tom Cruise got him back for the Top Gun sequel, knowing how ill he was, was incredibly poignant and brought a tear to my eye in the cinema.”
Jerry Ferrara
“RIP Val Kilmer. One of my favorite actors of all time,” the Entourage alum wrote via X. “He came on Entourage in the early years when it was hard to get big names. He stayed in character the whole time and it’s one of my favorite episodes. Heart goes out to his family.”
Michelle Pfeiffer
“Rest in Peace, Val,” the actress wrote via her Instagram Story, along with a broken heart emoji. She shared a photo of the pair costarring on ABC Afterschool Specials’ “One Too Many” episode in 1985 — Kilmer’s first TV appearance. The twosome later starred in The Prince of Egypt.
Pfeiffer and Kilmer were rumored to have a brief fling in the ‘80s. The late actor later revealed in his 2020 memoir that he and Pfeiffer had an “intimacy” between them after she allegedly confided in him over the years about her divorce from Peter Horton.
Ralph Fiennes
Kilmer’s The Prince of Egypt costar shared photos of their animated alter egos while honoring the late star via X. “Val Kilmer rest in peace ,” Fiennes wrote.
Antonio Banderas
“Rest in peace, Val Kilmer,” Banderas tweeted.
Brett Favre
“Heard that Val Kilmer passed. His role in Tombstone is one of the greatest movie performances,” the retired NFL quarterback wrote via X. “The original gunslinger..”
