On Tuesday, it was reported that Val Kilmer passed away, a day before he was due to grace the red carpet for the Top Gun actor’s appearance at the Beverly Hills Film Festival.
It came as quite a surprise when we learned that Val would be attending the west coast premiere of ‘American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective’ last weekend. Nino Simone, head of the Beverly Hills Film Festival, announced this unexpected news on Wednesday in a statement.
On a Tuesday, Jim Kilmer passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 65 due to pneumonia, as reported by The New York Times, according to his daughter, actress Mercedes Kilmer.
Kilmer eagerly stood by his friend Madsen. I can imagine PR was trying to contact the driver, arranging for Val’s arrival on the red carpet at 7:30 PM. The news of his death was reported simultaneously. It’s hard to believe and incredibly sad. Our sympathies are with his family,” Simone stated.
The Beverly Hills festival kicked off by debuting the global premiere of “Hello Beautiful,” a drama starring Tricia Helfer as a successful model who receives a breast cancer diagnosis. Val Kilmer, diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, was featured in a moving documentary about his life titled “Val” that premiered at Cannes in July 2021, which showed him using a breathing tube.
Kilmer’s health issues arose after an illustrious Hollywood career, during which he portrayed Batman and Jim Morrison, and delivered standout performances as Iceman in Top Gun and Doc Holliday in Tombstone. Notably, he also played the villain for Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s Heat (1995), John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau’s mad assistant (1996), and the sophisticated thief Simon Templar in Phillip Noyce’s The Saint (1997).
On Wednesday, Mann was among those who paid tribute to Kilmer, expressing in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “While collaborating with Val on Heat, I was consistently amazed by the depth and versatility of the rich character that Val so powerfully conveyed. After decades of Val’s courageous fight against illness and preserving his spirit, this heartbreaking news is incredibly sad.
The 25th Beverly Hills Film Festival is set to run through April 6.
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2025-04-02 17:54