Val Kilmer 1959-2025
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Val Kilmer Family Believes Religion Is Killing Him
2/2/2015 1:00 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF
EXCLUSIVE
Val Kilmer's family believes the actor is killing himself by not dealing with a serious tumor ... because of his religious beliefs.
TMZ broke the story ... Val was rushed to the hospital Monday night after he started bleeding from the throat. Doctors at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica operated immediately and found a tumor. We're told the surgery was invasive ... they needed to enlarge a path to facilitate breathing.
Family members tell TMZ ... Val has known about the tumor since Summer. He had trouble speaking and his neck swelled to the point he covered it up with scarves and other clothing items.
The family members say they urged Val to seek treatment but he would have none of it because of his Christian Science beliefs. They say he shunned medical treatment and anyone who persisted got cut out of his life.
Christian Science followers generally believe prayer heals, not medical treatment.
The family says Val would never confess to pain because it was an admission that prayer didn't work, but when he started coughing up blood Monday his options ran out.
The family is hopeful because Val seems somewhat more receptive to treatment.
We reached out to the Christian Science Church ... so far no word back.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3Qb1UJZOK
2/2/2015 1:00 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF
EXCLUSIVE
Val Kilmer's family believes the actor is killing himself by not dealing with a serious tumor ... because of his religious beliefs.
TMZ broke the story ... Val was rushed to the hospital Monday night after he started bleeding from the throat. Doctors at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica operated immediately and found a tumor. We're told the surgery was invasive ... they needed to enlarge a path to facilitate breathing.
Family members tell TMZ ... Val has known about the tumor since Summer. He had trouble speaking and his neck swelled to the point he covered it up with scarves and other clothing items.
The family members say they urged Val to seek treatment but he would have none of it because of his Christian Science beliefs. They say he shunned medical treatment and anyone who persisted got cut out of his life.
Christian Science followers generally believe prayer heals, not medical treatment.
The family says Val would never confess to pain because it was an admission that prayer didn't work, but when he started coughing up blood Monday his options ran out.
The family is hopeful because Val seems somewhat more receptive to treatment.
We reached out to the Christian Science Church ... so far no word back.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3Qb1UJZOK
Val Kilmer: Top Gun, Batman and The Doors actor dies aged 65
He starred in some of the biggest movies of the 1980s and 90s, then had treatment for throat cancer.
www.bbc.com
I just saw it too, very sad. RIP 
www.hollywoodreporter.com
Val Kilmer Death: Michael Mann, Josh Brolin, Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, Bill Simmons Pay Tribute to Actor
The much-loved actor died on Tuesday from pneumonia after battling throat cancer for several years.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
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This one hits hard. He was great in so many of his roles.I just saw it too, very sad. RIP
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How Val Kilmer seduced some of Hollywood's most beautiful women
The Hollywood star dated some of the world's most famous women, seducing the likes of Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie and Daryl Hannah, marrying just once to Joanne Whalley.www.dailymail.co.uk
Aw man, that headline is ridiculous and untrue. Just because there wasn’t a celebrity ex-girlfriend there when he died, does not mean he was alone. The Daily Mail should try to show a little bit of class when someone dies, but I guess that isn’t their way.
From AP:
Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. The Times was the first to report his death on Tuesday.
Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.
“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. 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 says toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed.”
Kilmer, the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School at the time he attended, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most. His break came in 1984’s spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”
His movie career hit its zenith in the early 1990s as he made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
“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,” director Michael Mann said in a statement Tuesday night.
Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of Kilmer, was among others paying tribute. “You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker,” Brolin wrote on Instagram. “There’s not a lot left of those.”
Val Kilmer, 'Top Gun' and Batman star with an intense approach, dies at 65
Kilmer, the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School at the time he attended, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most.
apnews.com
Thank you for sharing the AP article. Some of these rags columns are so frustrating to read that I don’t even bother anymore
I’m going to look for his documentary and watch it.
I’m going to look for his documentary and watch it.
Great actor...so many great films to his credit. Gone too soon! RIP Iceman!! 🙏
So sorry to read of his passing. He had talent and charisma. May he rest in peace.
So talented. RIP.
He is famous for so many roles, but i'll never forget him in Top Secret! An all-time classic.
He is famous for so many roles, but i'll never forget him in Top Secret! An all-time classic.
Amazing actor. I’m glad he got to tell his story in his documentary a couple years ago. RIP
When Tombstone was filmed in Arizona, I met him. I was an extra on the movie. I had a short scene with him when he was in the infirmary. He introduced himself to me, "hi, I'm Val". Like I wouldn't know who he was. Very unpretentious. He was lovely and very kind to extras and crew.
