Tag Archives: val-kilmer

Val Kilmer’s death on Tuesday, from pneumonia at 65, hit Western movie fans especially hard. In 1993’s Tombstone, Kilmer delivered one of the most indelible performances in the genre’s history as the tubercular dentist and gambler John Henry “Doc” Holliday. Beset by coughing fits, alcoholism, and a healthy dose of …

It’s not hard to imagine a topsy-turvy, role-swapping alternate reality where Val Kilmer plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in 1986’s Top Gun and Tom Cruise is cast as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. Kilmer’s Maverick would be cocky but also raw, exposed. Good at what he does but a desperate wreck at everything …