Died at 66
male
Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), then the cult classic Real Genius (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role in Willow. During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a series of films that were also commercially successful, including his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors, Doc Holliday in 1993's Tombstone, Batman in 1995's Batman Forever, Chris Shiherlis in 1995's Heat, and Simon Templar in 1997's The Saint. During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including The Salton Sea, Spartan, and supporting performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Alexander, and as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider.
The Transformers is an American animated television series which originally aired from September 17, 1984 to November 11, 1987 in syndication. The first of many series in the Transformers franchise, it was based upon Hasbro's Transformers toy line and depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects.[4] The series was produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions in association with Japanese studio Toei Animation[5] for first-run syndication. Toei co-produced the show and was the main animation studio for the first two seasons. In the third season Toei's involvement with the production team was reduced and the animation services were shared with the South Korean studio AKOM.[6] The fourth season was entirely animated by AKOM. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons. This series is also popularly known as "Generation 1", a term originally coined by fans in response to the re-branding of the franchise as Transformers: Generation 2 in 1992, which eventually made its way into official use.[citation needed] The series was later shown in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel and The Hub (now Discovery Family). It is also the first installment in the Generation 1 cartoon era.
