We Remember Val Kilmer’s 5 Most Iconic Movie Roles, ‘Top Gun’ to ‘The Doors’

Beloved actor Val Kilmer died from pneumonia on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. He was 65 and had recently overcome a longstanding battle with throat cancer, which was not believed to have played a part in his death. To honor Kilmer and the legacy he left on Hollywood, we have rounded up his five best film roles and discovered what he really thought of them below. 

‘Top Gun’ (1986) 

Kilmer played Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the blockbuster 1986 film Top Gun, a role that is considered to be one of his best. The film follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), Lieutenant Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), Iceman and others as they try to make it in The Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School. The film received a lot of critics’ acclaim and even had a sequel in 2022 entitled Top Gun: Maverick, which Kilmer starred in. 

“I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” the actor wrote in his 2020 memoir I’m Your Huckleberry.“I read the lines indifferently, and yet, amazingly, I was told I had the part… I felt more deflated than inflated.”

Even so, Kilmer did have an amazing time on set and even pranked Cruise one time, writing, “I gave him an extremely expensive bottle of champagne but placed it in the middle of a giant field and made him follow scavenger hunt-style clues to find it. I hid behind a bleacher and watched him lug the giant crate to his motorcycle.”

“He never did thank me for the Iceman-style bit,” he continued. “I thought it would break the ice, but I guess the ice was just right.”

Top Gun is available to stream on Prime Video and Top Gun: Maverick is available on Max. 

‘The Doors’ 1991

Follow alongside Kilmer as he takes on the role of Jim Morrison—lead singer of the classic rock band The Doors—in this hit 1991 musical movie. After taking a heavy dose of psychedelic drugs, Jim begins to distance himself from the band and his girlfriend Pamela Courson (Meg Ryan). He then begins to grow closer with Patricia (Kathleen Quinlan), an occult-obsessed woman who may just very well be the end of both Jim and The Doors. 

“It still boggles me to this day to see people with a tattoo of me playing him and not knowing it isn’t Jim,” Kilmer said, per Dazed. “Happens more than you think.” 

The Doors is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. 

‘Batman Forever’ (1995) 

In 1995, Kilmer answered The Bat Signal and became everyone’s favorite stoic superhero, Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman. While trying to fight off the Gotham City’s former District Attorney Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), and a former Wayne enterprises employee called Riddler (Jim Carrey), Bruce learns that sometimes he can’t solve every problem alone and must turn to people like Robin (Chris O’Donnell) for help. 

“Everything was different about this job than I’d experienced before,” Kilmer told Entertainment Tonight in 1995. “The size of the character and how strange it was that Michael Keaton had decided not to do it — I just said yes, without reading the script.”

Batman Forever is available to stream on Max. 

‘Heat’ (1995) 

Kilmer teamed up with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Ashley Judd and more for this high-stakes crime procedural. After accidentally leaving a clue behind, a group of Los Angeles criminals must figure out how to avoid the Los Angeles Police Department.  

“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, per Deadline. 

Heat is available to stream on Netflix. 

‘The Prince of Egypt’ (1998) 

Based on the Book of Exodus, this cartoon showcases Moses (Kilmer) after he learns of his Jewish slave roots and decides to try and free his people from that horrid fate. Sadly, his quest fails, and a deadly plague soon takes over Egypt that could threaten Moses and his friends away from life forever. 

“Moses’ whole life was a struggle. He was searching for a sense of home, then he’s banished and living in the desert. He finally comes home, finds a good woman, and becomes a shepherd. It’s the most humble job, but he’s happy,” Kilmer told Christian Science Sentinel in 2004. “It has to be his complete acceptance of his situation — without anger or remorse — that makes him the chosen one for the job.” 

The Prince of Egypt is available to stream on Peacock.