After Val Kilmer’s Death, Jennifer Tilly Shares Wild ‘Doors’ Audition Memories, Cher Pays Tribute: ‘Funny, Crazy, Pain in the A–‘

Following a fierce battle against throat cancer in 2014 that required two tracheotomies that robbed him of his signature honeyed voice, actor Val Kilmer died on Tuesday (April 1) at age 65. The Julliard School-trained star who got his start on the big screen in the comedies Top Secret! and Real Genius in the mid-1980s and went on to stardom after his biting turn as Iceman in 1986’s Top Gun passed away in Los Angeles from pneumonia surrounded by his family and friends, according to the Associated Press.

The intense actor who also played Batman in 1995’s loopy Batman Forever and faced off with Al Pacino’s cop in the heist flick Heat that same year also lit up the screen in his mesmerizing, wraith-like portrayal of a tuberculosis-stricken Doc Holliday in 1993’s Tombstone. In a nearly four-decade career that spanned comedy, drama and historical epics, it was Kilmer’s eerily method portrayal of Doors singer Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 The Doors biopic that became one of his signature roles.

Actress Jennifer Tilly — who auditioned for the movie for the role that Meg Ryan landed as Morrison’s girlfriend, Pamela Courson — posted a loving tribute to Kilmer on X following the announcement of his death.

“A long time ago, I was auditioning for the movie The Doors. It was kind of a cattle call. They paired together potential Jims with potential Pamela‘s. And they were running behind so we were spilling out of the casting office, sitting on the porch, the lawn, and the driveway,” she wrote.

“All of a sudden, a sixties convertible came screeching up, blaring Doors Music at top volume. And a guy jumped out and strode inside: He had wild hair and he was barefoot, shirtless, and wearing nothing but a pair of tight leather pants,” she added. “We all looked at each other like… Who is this guy? We were more than a little shook by the sheer audacity of his entrance. Well of course it was Val Kilmer and from that minute on, nobody else stood a chance. Rip King.”

Kilmer’s final movie appearance was a sentimental return for the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, in which he appeared after losing his voice to cancer, with his lines digitally enhanced due to the damage to his vocal cords following radiation treatment.

In a statement, Heat director Michael Mann paid tribute to the famously Method actor who threw himself full-bore into his roles, saying, “While working with Val on Heat I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.” On Instagram, friend and fellow actor Josh Brolin wrote, “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”

Cher, who dated Kilmer in the early 1980s, also honored the actor in her signature pithy way, posting on X, “VALUS Will miss u,U Were Funny,crazy,pain in the ass,GREAT FRIEND,kids U, BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness.”

Josh Gad also honored the “icon” who had a huge impact on him, posting a pic of Kilmer in his Top Gun uniform, writing, “RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon.” Director Francis Ford Coppola, who worked with Kilmer on the little-seen 2001 horror movie Twixt, said on Instagram, “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life. He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him.”

In addition to the lightweight Batman Forever, Kilmer also appeared alongside Marlon Brando in the bizarre, famously troubled 1996 science fiction movie The Island of Dr. Moreau, played painter Willem de Kooning in the 2000 biopic Pollock, as well as 1970s porn star John Holmes in Wonderland and Phillip II of Macedon in Stone’s 2004 sword-and-sandals historical drama Alexander.

Kilmer continued to star in films throughout the early and mid-2000s, often in direct-to-video projects or in cameos in small films. His 2021 documentary, Val, featured footage Kilmer filmed from throughout his career, including during his throat cancer treatment, with his son, Jack Kilmer, narrating the project.