Tom Cruise Pays Tribute to Late Co-Star Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise has paid an emo­tion­al trib­ute to his late Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer, fol­low­ing Kilmer’s pass­ing at the age of 65 on April 1, 2025. Kilmer, best known for his role as Tom “Ice­man” Kazan­sky in Top Gun (1986) and its sequel Top Gun: Mav­er­ick (2022), died of pneu­mo­nia. His daugh­ter, Mer­cedes Kilmer, con­firmed the news, reveal­ing that while he had pre­vi­ous­ly bat­tled throat can­cer since 2014, he had been in recov­ery before his sud­den passing​

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Cruise, who shared the screen with Kilmer in both Top Gun films, spoke about his deep admi­ra­tion for the actor. “Val was a true force of nature on screen and in life. His tal­ent, ded­i­ca­tion, and spir­it were unmatched. Work­ing with him on Top Gun was an expe­ri­ence I’ll nev­er for­get,” Cruise said in a state­ment. He recalled their time film­ing togeth­er, high­light­ing Kilmer’s com­mit­ment to his roles and the gen­uine friend­ship they built over the years.

Kilmer’s por­tray­al of Ice­man became one of the most icon­ic per­for­mances in 80s cin­e­ma, and his return in Top Gun: Mav­er­ick was a poignant moment for both fans and Cruise him­self. Due to his health strug­gles, Kilmer had lost much of his voice, and tech­nol­o­gy was used to recre­ate it for his brief but emo­tion­al appear­ance in the sequel​

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Beyond Top Gun, Kilmer’s career includ­ed stand­out per­for­mances in films such as The Doors, Tomb­stone, Bat­man For­ev­er, and Heat. Hol­ly­wood fig­ures, includ­ing direc­tor Fran­cis Ford Cop­po­la and actress Jen­nifer Tilly, have also shared heart­felt trib­utes, remem­ber­ing Kilmer for his immense tal­ent and the last­ing impact he had on the film industry​

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Fans and col­leagues alike con­tin­ue to hon­or Kilmer’s lega­cy, cel­e­brat­ing his con­tri­bu­tions to cin­e­ma and the unfor­get­table char­ac­ters he brought to life.