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Val Kilmer, the leading actor in Hollywood who recently passed away this month, garnered critical acclaim for his roles as Jim Morrison and Batman. The charismatic but unpredictable actor, who made his name by starring in a variety of genres like comedy, action, westerns, and crime dramas, once said about Hollywood:
"It’s easy to criticize."
Val Kilmer passed away on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Los Angeles. He was only 65. The actor died from pneumonia after battling throat cancer for years before, which permanently altered his voice.
What does Val Kilmer have to say about Hollywood?
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In a 2011 interview with Piotr Uklanski, who asked Kilmer whether he thought Hollywood would approve of the actor's museum projects, he responded:
"Well, I’m a cliché. I don’t want that to be the lead line in the article, but we all grow up. I was very silly about Hollywood. It’s easy to criticize. If you have to be there and find your way, you don’t need someone like me coming in and reminding you that it’s a boneyard."
He continued:
"Like Gertrude Stein’s most famous perfect sentence of any idea she ever had: There’s no there there. Wherever you stand, L.A. is over there. But I’ve found that Hollywood’s a really honest business. They don’t pull any punches. They tell you exactly what you want-I want the fake breasts and the flat car and the big pool. You know, they’re real up-front about it."
He also talked about how Hollywood is like a warehouse, saying,
"Hollywood’s like a warehouse. It’s just a place that you go. What’s interesting in the warehouse has to do with the creative people. People are always great. Sean Penn’s an example of someone who was raised there, never had a problem with being there, and just found the people that he wanted to work with."
The actor concluded:
"And every year he worked with more of them. And there’s still a list that we both had when we were kids. I haven’t worked with [Robert] Duvall, and we share a greater kinship than Sean. It’s not really a choice of preferring one world to another."
Apart from being an actor, Val Kilmer has another passion—art. In 2011, he turned his focus on the art world and began an ambitious sculpture project on his Pecos River Ranch in New Mexico.
Val Kilmer passed away last week
Val Edward Kilmer was an American actor who started out his career with stage acting and later found himself as the leading star across a variety of genres. He is best known for his roles in Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), Top Gun (1986), The Doors (1991), and Batman Forever (1995).
Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and had to undergo a tracheal procedure that damaged his vocal cords and left him unable to speak properly for some time. Kilmer also had to undergo chemotherapy and two tracheotomies, but he ultimately died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025.
Kilmer also released his memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir in 2020 and a documentary film named Val in 2021, where he talked about his struggles with health.
Kilmer will always be remembered for his vividly stylized performance as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991) as well as his role as Iceman in Top Gun. Read more about Val Kilmer here.
