Val Kilmer was the quintessential Hollywood heartthrob.
The entertainment world and movie lovers everywhere are in mourning after the news of the actor’s death aged 65.
Kilmer’s daughter confirmed her father died in Los Angeles in early April 2025 after a battle with pneumonia, per The New York Times.
With roles in The Doors, Batman Forever and Top Gun, the actor was loved and admired by both his peers and fans.
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, and his career looked to be all but over when he lost his speaking voice after undergoing a tracheostomy during treatment.
However, thanks to modern technology, he was able to continue his passion for acting – even appear in the highly-anticipated Top Gun sequel, Maverick.
Val Kilmer’s secret health battle
Kilmer was still landing the big gigs when he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015.
The actor kept his diagnosis a secret from his peers and fans until The Hollywood Reporter revealed in 2017 that he had been in a “two-year battle with throat cancer” and that “a procedure on his trachea … reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath”.
Kilmer’s camp confirmed the reports shortly after, with the actor also opening up about his experience prior to his diagnosis in his 2020 memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry.
In the book, he recalled staying in singer Cher’s guest house back in 2014 when he felt something was wrong.
“Suddenly I awoke vomiting blood that covered the bed like a scene out of The Godfather,” he wrote.
The actor then embarked on radiation and chemotherapy treatments and a subsequent tracheostomy, which left him with a permanently damaged speaking voice.
The Top Gun: Maverick comeback
Kilmer was just 25 when he played Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the original Top Gun film. In 2022, aged 62, he reprised his role in the sequel, with his character now Commander of the US Pacific Fleet.
Although Kilmer’s appearance in the sequel was brief, it was one of the most powerful scenes in the movie and saw him reunite with Tom Cruise’s character, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
According to Kilmer, he was not initially contacted by producers to join the reboot.
He suspected his heath had something to do with it, but the actor was not going to let his diminished vocal capacity due to a tracheotomy stop him from attempting to play Iceman on the big screen once again.
In his 2020 memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry, the late actor said he had “begged” producers to recast him as he argued there was no Top Gun without Iceman.
“Tom was Maverick, but Maverick’s nemesis was Iceman. The two went together like salt and pepper,” Kilmer wrote in his book.
Tom Cruise had tears in his eyes filming key scene
“It didn’t matter that the producers didn’t contact me. As The Temptations sang in the heyday of Motown soul, ‘Ain’t too proud to beg.'”
Given Kilmer’s limited ability to speak in real life – at the time, he spoke using a voice box – following his cancer battle, producers knew they had their work cut out for them.
To combat this, artificial voice technology was used in post-production to give Kilmer the ability to speak during his brief appearance.
His voice was recreated by Sonantic – a UK-based software firm that clones voices for actors and studios – using modern technology and archival recordings throughout his career to create an artificial voice mock-up.
“I’m grateful to the entire team at Sonantic who masterfully restored my voice in a way I’ve never imagined possible,” Kilmer said last year in a statement to The Wrap.
As for Cruise, he was delighted to have Kilmer onboard in the sequel.
“It was lovely. The whole experience, you know, 36 years to make this film,” Cruise said at the film’s premiere.
“There were so many moments in making it that were very special, incredibly unique. He’s an actor that I greatly admire, so it was wonderful.”
The toll of Kilmer’s tracheotomies
In his memoir, Kilmer revealed he underwent two tracheotomies after being diagnosed with throat cancer, leading him to use a feeding tube and speak through a voice box.
“Speaking, once my joy and lifeblood, has become an hourly struggle,” he wrote in the book.
“The instrument over which I had complete mastery is now out of my control.”
Essentially, the Hollywood actor lost his natural voice as he battled throat cancer, in turn shattering his career and altering the way he communicates.
However, in 2021, Sonantic helped Kilmer to speak again when they assisted producers in the Prime Video documentary about the actor, titled Val.
According to The Washington Post, Sonantic created 40 versions of Kilmer’s voice and selected the highest quality option best captured his expression.
This resulted in a desktop-based text-to-speech program that could mimic his projection levels and emotions.
Kilmer was free to use this model for personal and professional use, as he did in Top Gun: Maverick.
“We like to think of it as Photoshop for voice, where you can go in and touch up little areas,” said John Flynn, the firm’s chief technology officer.
‘I have lost and found parts of myself I never knew existed’
In Val, a 2021 documentary about his life and career, Kilmer – now cancer-free – said he was feeling much better.
“I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel,” the late star said in the doco.
“I can’t speak without plugging this hole [in his throat]. You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat. It’s an obstacle that is very present with whoever sees me.”
Remembering the stars we’ve lost in 2025
Nevertheless, Kilmer said he was excited for whatever the future held.
“I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he communicated in the film.
“I am blessed.”
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