At the time of his death, Val Kilmer hadn’t made any public appearances since 2019, when his daughter, Mercedes, accompanied him to the Thespians Go Hollywood Gala. Earlier that year, he’d appeared at the Simply Shakespeare live reading of The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino and at a charity basketball game. However, with the debut of “American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective,” Kilmer was excited to support the film and attend the Beverly Hills Film Festival. Sadly, he wouldn’t make it.
Val Kilmer Dies the Night of Planned Red Carpet Return
Mercedes informed The New York Times on April 1, 2025, that her father had died of pneumonia. Little did anyone know that Kilmer, who had successfully battled throat cancer years before, had been planning to make his first red carpet in six years that same evening. âIt was a shock to find this out,” Nino Simone, founder and president of the Beverly Hills Film Festival, said Wednesday in a statement posted by The Hollywood Reporter. “We had just confirmed Val to attend the west coast premiere of American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective this past weekend.”
“He [Kilmer] was thrilled to come out in support of his friend [Madsen],” Simone continued. “I know PR was on the phone, trying to get a hold of the driver, bringing Val for his 7:30 p.m. red carpet arrival. The story and news of his death were reported, literally at the same, exact time. Unbelievable, and so heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to his family.”
Kilmer Loaned Madsen $8000 when they made ‘The Doors’ Together
Little is known about their friendship, but they worked together on 1989’s Kill Me Again and 1991’s The Doors. Madsen has spoken about Kilmer in interviews. “I have a GTO, a ’67 GTO,” Madsen said in an Alamo Drafthouse interview. “He saw the car somewhere and really wanted it.” Madsen went on to explain that Kilmer drove out to Malibu, hoping to buy the car, and after Madsen told him how much it’d cost, he turned and walked away.
Apparently, that wasn’t the end of it. Madsen then got a call from Kilmer’s assistant, telling him he was sending a truck to pick up the GTO. He told him Kilmer wanted to use it to drive to the Academy Awards. “I said, ‘he’s going to roll up to the Academy Awards in my GTO?’” he recalled. Madsen then casually mentioned that he still owed Kilmer $8,000, which he’d loaned him when they made The Doors. “I’ll give you the money, Val,” he chuckled. “Or will I?”
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