NEWSTom Cruise Honors Late Costar Val Kilmer With Moment of Silence and Sweet Message at CinemaCon 2 Days After He Died at Age 65
Tom Cruise called Val Kilmer 'a dear friend.'
Tom Cruise paid tribute to late Top Gun costar Val Kilmer two days after the latter passed away from pneumonia at age 65.
While at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 3, to promote Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the action star, 62, took the stage and asked the crowd to hold a moment of silence for Kilmer.
Val Kilmer was 65 when he passed away on Tuesday, April 1, from pneumonia.
"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," Cruise reportedly expressed. "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."
Tom Cruise honored his late 'Top Gun' costar with a moment of silence at CinemaCon.
Kilmer's daughter confirmed to the New York Times that her famous father — who beat throat cancer after a 2014 diagnosis — passed on Tuesday, April 1.
As OK! reported, an interview in which Cruise raved over his Top Gun reunion with Kilmer resurfaced after his death.
"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 dad-of-three gushed. "I just want to say that was pretty emotional. I've known Val for decades."
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Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014.
"I was crying, I was crying. I got emotional," Cruise admitted. "He's such a brilliant actor, I love his work."
Top Gun: Maverick was Kilmer's final role, as his health then took a turn south.
According to one insider, the Tombstone actor was "very frail near the end of his life" — so much so, he reportedly found it difficult to leave his bed.
A source said Kilmer's death wasn't 'sudden,' as he had been 'very frail near the end of his life.'
"His death wasn’t sudden," the source explained. "His health seriously declined in the past week, and his friends and family came to Val's side at the hospital in the days before his death."
It was also revealed that Kilmer had been hospitalized earlier this year.
One of the movie star's final Instagram posts featured him goofing off while wearing his Batman Forever mask, but the source said the video was "taken years ago."
"His appearance in it isn't accurate to how he looked in the last months of his life" the insider added.
Variety reported on Cruise honoring Kilmer at CinemaCon.
