Val Kilmer died of pneumonia, death certificate confirms

By Jessica Inman
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Val Kilmer died of pneumonia, according to the death certificate issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Health. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI
Val Kilmer died of pneumonia, according to the death certificate issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Health. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo

April 11 (UPI) -- Batman Forever actor Val Kilmer died of pneumonia, his death certificate has confirmed.

Known for his roles in such films as Top Gun, Kilmer died April 1 and was cremated April 7. He was 65.

The death certificate issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Health confirms what Kilmer's daughter Mercedes previously told the New York Times about the actor's death. The certificate also lists additional causes -- acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory failure, squamous cell carcinoma.

Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, and addressed his health issues in his 2020 memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry.

"It was very hard to embrace my original diagnosis," he wrote in the book. "It was surreal. I didn't believe I was decomposing, and I wasn't ready to die."

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Pope Francis tours St. Peter's Square in his popemobile after bestowing the Urbi et Orbi blessing at the end of the Easter mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 20, 2025. Francis died at the age of 88 at his Vatican residence following a long illness on April 21. Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo

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