Hollywood has lost a beloved actor.
Val Kilmer, who starred as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in 1986’s Top Gun and the titular superhero in 1995’s Batman Forever—died of pneumonia April 1, his daughter Mercedes Kilmer told the New York Times. He was 65.
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, but later recovered, she confirmed to the outlet.
Kilmer had largely kept details of his cancer battle to himself. It wasn’t until 2020 when he opened up about his health struggles, revealing he underwent a procedure on his trachea that left him with a raspy voice.
“I feel a lot better than I sound, but I feel wonderful,” he told ABC News at the time. “I was diagnosed with throat cancer, which healed very quickly.”
Kilmer continued, “This is a tracheotomy to help me breathe, because the glands in my throat swelled up as well.”
In his 2020 memoir I’m Your Huckleberry, Kilmer credited ex-girlfriend Cher for playing a large part in his treatment, recalling that he was staying at her guesthouse when he began “vomiting blood that covered the bed like a scene out of The Godfather.”Â
