00:00I'm your huckle bearer.
00:05Why, Johnny Ringo?
00:08You look like somebody just walked out your grave.
00:11From Top Gun to Batman Forever to The Doors,
00:14the late Val Kilmer was easily one of the most versatile actors of his generation,
00:18captivating audiences and critics alike since his rise in the 1980s.
00:23So right now, we're breaking down eight roles we love from Val Kilmer.
00:30Kilmer's big break came in 1984 with the comedy spy spoof Top Secret.
00:41The actor starred as a rock and roll teen idol sent to East Germany to perform at a music festival,
00:47but instead involved in an absurd Cold War espionage plot.
00:51Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film's character's name, Nick Rivers.
00:57What's your problem, Kazanski?
01:00You're everyone's problem.
01:02That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe.
01:05Just two years later in 1986, Kilmer rose to prominence with his role as Iceman in Top Gun.
01:11The film starring Tom Cruise became a pop culture phenomenon,
01:14showcasing Kilmer's charisma as the cocky fighter pilot who goes toe-to-toe with Cruise's Maverick.
01:20The actor reprised his role for the mega-hit sequel Top Gun Maverick in 2022,
01:25which went on to score six Oscar nominations.
01:35Kilmer earned major critical acclaim for his work as Jim Morrison in 1991's The Doors.
01:41The Oliver Stone project followed the L.A. band's iconic frontman who succumbed to drugs in 1971 at age 27.
01:48The actor took months to prepare for the role, and he recorded his baritone voice against the backing of original Doors' master tapes for the film.
01:56Oh, Johnny, I apologize. I forgot you were there. You may go now.
02:03One of Kilmer's most celebrated performances came in 1993 when he portrayed Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
02:09The film follows a band of brothers restoring order to a lawless land
02:13and is loosely based on real events that took place in the 1880s in Tombstone, Arizona.
02:19Kilmer compelled with his scene-stealing turn as the doomed Holliday, a sickly alcoholic who's quick on the draw.
02:25I see without seeing. To me, darkness is as clear as daylight. What am I?
02:33In 1995, Kilmer took up the mantle vacated by Michael Keaton to star as the moody-caped crusader in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever.
02:42He became the second actor to portray Batman on the big screen after Keaton and a long line of Batmans thereafter.
02:48Director Schumacher even once said,
02:50For me, Val Kilmer was the best Batman.
02:52For me, the sun rises and sets with her, man.
02:57Yeah.
02:59Yeah.
03:00Also in 1995, Kilmer starred alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann's Heat,
03:06the critically acclaimed crime saga where a master criminal and LAPD detective face off.
03:12Kilmer played a key supporting role as De Niro's right-hand man.
03:16Listen, if you think giving away everything in front of the world,
03:20preventing us from making an unimaginable fortune will accomplish anything.
03:25You're absolutely right.
03:27In 1997, he was back in an action role in The Saint, playing a suave international thief who comes back for one last job,
03:35but gets caught in a web of espionage and romance.
03:38I put in one bullet, didn't I?
03:40You put a live round in that gun?
03:41Oh yeah, there was like an 8% chance.
03:438%?
03:448%?
03:45Yeah!
03:46Who taught you math?
03:47And in 2005, Kilmer starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,
03:51a dark comedy about a petty thief who gets caught up in a Hollywood murder mystery while posing as an actor.
03:57Kilmer played a sarcastic private detective in the crime comedy-turned-cult classic.
04:02And still, Kilmer had many more roles that audiences remember.
04:06For more on the life and legacy of Val Kilmer, as well as other roles we love, head to THR.com.
04:13And for the latest entertainment news and updates, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.
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