Tribute 72: Val Kilmer

In our latest tribute, Janet, John, (and Pen) celebrate the life and career of a revered American actor who found fame in a leading role across many different genres... Val Kilmer! His career page on the stage, beocming the youngest person at the time to be accepted into Juilliard, and get his start in an off-Broadway musical The Slab Boys (1983) with Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn. His overnight breakthrouhg came with the 1984 comedy Top Secret!, marking his first major motion picture role, launching him into mainstream Hollywood almost instantly. A couple years later, Kilmer was fimly planted in the Hollywood A-list with his role as Iceman in Top Gun (1986). Kilmer became the go to leading man for every genre throughout the 1990s, raning from the likes of Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993) to Batman in Batman Forever (1995). The films he starred in would grossed more than a whopping $3.8 billion worldwide, which include but not limited to Top Gun (1986), The Doors (1991), Tombstone (1993), and Batman Forever (1995), Heat (1995), The Prince of Egypt (1998). His final role came in the form of a reprisal of Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

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