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Celebrity Death: Val Kilmer 65 years old

MoreOrr said:
Great actor. I liked him in almost everything I saw him in. The throat cancer issue really did in his career, and now I'm wondering if something related to that ultimately did him in as well. Sad news indeed.

PS: Confirmed caused of death: Pneumonia, not related to the throat cancer he had in the past.

Actually, it's truly amazing that pneumonia still kills a lot of people.
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Jumptheshark said:
Died from pneumonia
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Hmm...cancer weakens one's immune system. Patients with throat cancer are more like to get pneumonia and also die from it. So, I'd venture a guess that his cancer played a role in the disease advancing as much as it did even though pneumonia was the cause of death.

Increased risk of death from pneumonia among cancer survivors: A propensity score‐matched cohort analysis - PMC

The repeated global pandemic of the new virus has led to interest in the possibility of severe pneumonia among cancer patients and survivors. Here, we aimed to assess the association between incident cancer and risk of death from pneumonia in ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
Hearthrob looks but a genuine character actor weirdo beneath the surface.

He did a touring one-man show where he played Mark Twain. One of my great regrets is that I missed out on tickets when he brought it to a small venue in my town.

I second @kihei on The Salton Sea (which oddly was in my head last weeks for reasons I cannot remember) as an underseen/underrated movie and performance of his. Top Secret! and Real Genius hint at a different path he could've chosen and still been successful. I feel like Ryan Reynolds probably had a Real Genius poster above his bed in his youth.

As for comedy, his supporting turn in MacGruber is sublime.

I'll plug a few other dramas too. He plays a Stephen King-esque writer tied up in a supernatural mystery in Twixt (or B'Twixt as Frances Ford Coppola retitled it). I think I'm the only person who likes this movie and his steady hand is part of that.

I adore David Mamet's Spartan and Kilmer is a natural fit for Mamet's terse and jargon heavy rhythms.

And finally, his Brando-apeing turn in The Island of Dr. Moreau for enjoyable WTF-ness.
 
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Babe Ruth said:
yup..
I liked 'Top Secret'.. I still remember their poster, with the cow wearing boots.

Kilmer had a wide variety of roles. I mostly remember him as Jim Morrison, but he was also really good as a part-Indian FBI agent in Thunderheart. Saw that one in a basically empty theater. I don't think it's remembered, or appreciated much.
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I remember the cow poster too... and this.

 
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I might've watched Kilmer act more than anyone else when I was growing up. Mainly because my younger brother was obsessed with the movie Willow and watched it on an almost daily basis for years but I enjoyed it as well. My Dad was also a big fan of Top Gun so saw it a lot too.

As a teen Tombstone and Heat became two of my favourite movies. I really loved The Ghost and The Darkness back when it came out and enjoyed The Saint but haven't seen either movie since the 90s. Thought he was a pretty good Bruce Wayne in a not so good movie.

In college, I enjoyed him in The Doors, Island of Dr. Moreau, The Salton Sea, Wonderland and as imaginary Elvis in True Romance. Haven't seen him in much the past 20 years but he was good in Kill the Irishman. Pollock and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are already on my to watch list and I'm going to add Thunderheart which I had actually never heard of until this thread.

Whoever said he had leading man looks but was more of a quirky character actor hit the nail on the head. I think he was at his best in supporting roles but definitely a capable leading man. My top 5 performances by him are in Tombstone, Willow, The Salton Sea, Heat and Wonderland.

RIP
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Makes me sad, he was really enjoyable in many films I grew up with. 65 years weren't enough, but rest in peace.
You all listed many great roles already, but don't forget his sprit-Elvis from True Romance! Was a perfect small bit for him.
 
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Seedtype said:
Honestly a pretty good actor, it's a shame his health got so bad.
Rest in peace.
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Dubi Doo said:
Hmm...cancer weakens one's immune system. Patients with throat cancer are more like to get pneumonia and also die from it. So, I'd venture a guess that his cancer played a role in the disease advancing as much as it did even though pneumonia was the cause of death.

Increased risk of death from pneumonia among cancer survivors: A propensity score‐matched cohort analysis - PMC

The repeated global pandemic of the new virus has led to interest in the possibility of severe pneumonia among cancer patients and survivors. Here, we aimed to assess the association between incident cancer and risk of death from pneumonia in ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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Probably didn't help that he didn't get treatment immediately during his first diagnosis until his kids asked him to because he originally tried to pray it away and considered himself a Christian Scientist.

Guy was a great actor but was absolutely out there. If you haven't seen the Val documentary on Amazon Prime it's worth a watch and you'll see what I mean.
 
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KallioWeHardlyKnewYe said:
Hearthrob looks but a genuine character actor weirdo beneath the surface.

He did a touring one-man show where he played Mark Twain. One of my great regrets is that I missed out on tickets when he brought it to a small venue in my town.

I second @kihei on The Salton Sea (which oddly was in my head last weeks for reasons I cannot remember) as an underseen/underrated movie and performance of his. Top Secret! and Real Genius hint at a different path he could've chosen and still been successful. I feel like Ryan Reynolds probably had a Real Genius poster above his bed in his youth.

As for comedy, his supporting turn in MacGruber is sublime.

I'll plug a few other dramas too. He plays a Stephen King-esque writer tied up in a supernatural mystery in Twixt (or B'Twixt as Frances Ford Coppola retitled it). I think I'm the only person who likes this movie and his steady hand is part of that.

I adore David Mamet's Spartan and Kilmer is a natural fit for Mamet's terse and jargon heavy rhythms.

And finally, his Brando-apeing turn in The Island of Dr. Moreau for enjoyable WTF-ness.
Click to expand...
If you can track it down, the commentary track from Val in Spartan was quite a good listen back in the day.

I plan to rewatch Real Genius, The Salton Sea, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Willow in the coming days in remembrance.
 
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Great actor, but definitely eccentric. I think it's safe to say that he probably was the most hated actor at his peak in the 90's. He did some memorable work though and was part of some of my all time favorite films.
 
Ol' Jase said:
RIP, absolutely loved him.

Real Genius is a cult comedy classic, but his most underrated role, IMO, was in Wonderland. He’s a force in that film.
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My friends and I would quote that movie all the time:
"Don't eat that!... Girl: Why?
Don't you know that eating that stuff can give you very large breasts? OMG I'm too late!


4bf7a0ca-d0ef-44a9-874d-7c9ac4609c17_text.gif


I thought it was pretty cool of Tom Cruise to bring him back for Maverick, I think his last role.
He will be missed.
 
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