Tom Cruise breaks silence on Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer’s shock death at 65

Tom Cruise has paid an emotional tribute to his Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer after his shock death aged 65 this week.

Cruise, 62, played Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell alongside Kilmer’s Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in the 1986 classic, with the pair reuniting onscreen for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick.
Taking to the stage at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for CinemaCon 2025, Cruise said per Variety: ‘I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer.

‘I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honored I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.

‘I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.

‘I wish you well on the next journey.’
The action star was the event to talk up his next film, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which will open on May 23.

Tom had said in 2022 that he was very pleased the Kilmer joined him on Top Gun: Maverick.

‘I just want to say that was pretty emotional. I’ve known Val for decades,’ Cruise said while on Jimmy Kimmel Live. ‘For him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman.’

The movie’s producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, told People in 2021 that Cruise ‘was the driving force’ in getting Kilmer to work on the film.

Val, who rose to fame in the 1980s with roles in films such as Batman Forever and The Doors, died from complications related to pneumonia after a long battle with health issues.

Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, spent the later years of his life largely out of the public eye.
Val is survived by his daughter Mercedes and son Jack, whom he had during his marriage to actress Joanne Whalley.
His passing was announced by Mercedes on Tuesday.

This comes a day after another big star paid tribute to Kilmer. Michelle Pfeiffer shared a sweet note to social media on Wednesday.

Pfeiffer, 66, posted a black-and-white photograph of herself and Val from the set of the 1985 ABC Afterschool Special One Too Many.

Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, spent the later years of his life largely out of the public eye. Seen in 2019
Taking to the stage at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, Cruise said per Variety: ‘I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. ‘I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honored I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick’
‘I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us,’ added the ex of Katie Holmes
Cruise put his head down as he held his hands together while on stage at CinemaCon 2025 held at The Colosseum
The two actors first met while filming the special, which tackled the dangers of teenage drinking, and formed a close friendship that lasted decades.

Val spoke openly about his bond with Pfeiffer in his 2020 memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry. He described the connection they shared, saying: ‘The secret pain that Michelle and I shared created an intimacy between us.’

He revealed he had felt comfortable confiding in her about his strained relationship with his parents, while Michelle, in turn, spoke to him about the difficulties in her marriage to Peter Horton, whom she later divorced.

Though Val wrote fondly about Michelle, he admitted to having harbored a longstanding attraction to her younger sister, Lori Pfeiffer, now 59.
He said in his memoir: ‘I had an all-consuming crush on her younger sister Lori, who did not seem to reciprocate, even a little,’ he wrote. ‘In fact, she seemed to not even know I existed.’
Michelle Pfeiffer shared a sweet note to social media on Wednesday. Pfeiffer, 66, posted a photograph of herself and Val from the set of the 1985 ABC Afterschool Special One Too Many. Alongside the image, she wrote: ‘Rest in peace, Val’
While speculation has persisted over whether Michelle and Val ever dated, the details remain unclear. However, Val reflected on their time together in a 2018 Instagram post, sharing the same image Michelle later used in her tribute.

He said online: ‘I first met Michelle through her husband Peter and Mare Winningham, who was my first girlfriend in high school.

‘It was so amazing to work with all three such talented people in one ‘after school special’ which was, to my memory, always a morality play designed to educate kids just home from school.’

Michelle has not publicly commented on Val beyond her Instagram post.