R.I.P. Val Kilmer

Optimus Prime said

Don't really want to be that guy or speak "ill" of the dead

But reading articles and comments about Val Kilmer I'm reading things like Acting Icon, Legendary Actor, National Treasure

No offense meant but really?

He was a good actor who made good movies that I enjoyed and in my opinion had one legendary role (Doc Holliday)

But acting icon?

I said in the Gene Hackman thread that those terms were also assigned to him even though I had never heard him referred as such before

But Gene Hackman has exponentially more claim to those descriptions than Val Kilmer

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Honestly, I think the only thing that kept Kilmer from being a "legendary actor" is that he didn't make that many movies in the grand scheme of things and he hasn't done a lot in recent years. He's only done like two "big" movies since 2000, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Top Gun: Maverick. But, he was great in every single role he played even if it was a bad movie. i.e. Batman Forever, The Saint, and Red Planet. His lack of movies probably has to do with his being difficult to work with and he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 so he likely hasn't been able to really work for the last 10 or so years.

He was amazing as Jim Morrison in The Doors and in The Ghost and the Darkness. And he had the range to be in things like Willow, Real Genius, Top Secret, and Top Gun.

Does that make him a legend or an icon? I don't know but he's certainly an actor that made me want to watch any movie he was in and an actor I have followed since I saw him in Top Secret when I was like 13.