ENTERTAINMENT NEWS – Beloved actor Van Kilmer dies at 65 after battling throat cancer

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in hit movies from the 1980s through the 1990s, has died at the age of 65. Kilmer passed away on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, California surrounded by his family and friends, including his daughter Mercedes Kilmer. Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. Kilmer had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required him to get two tracheostomies.

Kilmer was praised for being a chameleon throughout his acting career, with an ability to take on challenging roles that yielded memorable results. He starred in Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise in 1986.  He starred as Jim Morrison in the 1991 Oliver Stone classic The Doors, and as the quick-witted Doc Holliday in the 1993 Western Tombstone.  He followed that up in 1995 as Batman in Batman Forever and played a bank robber in Michael Mann’s 1995 crime thriller Heat.