'Once a star, always a star'

Val Kilmer: Leaves 'Indelible Cinematic Mark' – 'Top Gun' Official Telegram Page

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Hollywood and our business, it's a very social business and I never tried to be involved in the community of it," Val Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original Top Gun, once said. But tributes flowed in from some of his past directors, however, after the star died aged 65 after a career of memorable hits and on-set bust-ups.

The cause of death was pneumonia, his daughter Mercedes Kilmer told the New York Times on Tuesday, which was the first publication to announce the news. He battled throat cancer after being diagnosed in 2014 and appeared in the Top Gun sequel and a 2021 documentary appearing physically diminished and with a raspy voice.