Val Kilmer's Best Onscreen Performances

As easily as the word "eccentric" gets tossed around when describing actor Val Kilmer, "eclectic" can be used just as capably to describe his body of work. While his first two major roles came in comedic films, he quickly became known for action movie roles as well, though many of the films were as different as can be. Neo noir thrillers, Westerns, biographical dramas, and good, old-fashioned crime dramas, Kilmer's filmography is as diverse as it is enjoyable. It's enough to forgive any of the colorful behavior for which he's known. Accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School at age 17 — then the youngest student ever admitted into its drama program (via the Juilliard Journal) — Kilmer has amassed more than 100 acting credits since his feature film debut as fictional rock star Nick Rivers in 1984's "Top Secret!" (via IMDb).

In the years following, he took on the roles of a child prodigy, a naval aviator, a swordsman, a private investigator, real-life rock star Jim Morrison, an FBI agent, a bank robber, legendary southern gentleman Doc Holliday, and the ring of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, all within the first decade of his career. In the time since, he's managed to offer consistently solid performances in a variety of roles, mixing in turns as a violent prison philosopher, Wyatt Earp, and Mark Twain.

As legendary film critic Roger Ebert described it, "If there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it." Here are Val Kilmer's best onscreen performances.

For 1992's modern Western "Thunderheart", Val Klimer took on the role of FBI Agent Ray Levoi. Ray is assigned to investigate the murder of Leo Fast Elk (Allan R.J. Joseph), a tribal elder who was killed on a Native American reservation, owing to Levoi's one quarter Sioux heritage. He and his partner, Agent Frank Coutelle (Sam Shepard), initially butt heads with local law enforcement in the form of Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene), whose distrust of the federal government makes their rapport strained at best. Ray's superiors believe he'll have a better chance at a successful investigation than his peers — hoping his heritage will incline locals to open up to him — but Walter comes to believe something else entirely: that he is the reincarnation of Thunderheart, a legendary warrior killed at the Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota.

In his review of "Thunderheart," critic Roger Ebert praised Vilmer's ability to disappear into a given role, noting he had watched the first 20 minutes of the film without realizing the actor was onscreen the entire time. "Kilmer's anonymity was not a trick of makeup or lighting. He plays the role unadorned, his hair cut short and neatly combed, his shirt buttoned, his tie in a neat knot. It is something inside Kilmer that seems to conceal him." Ebert compared Kilmer's performance as Ray Levoi to his turn as legendary rockstar Jim Morrison in "The Doors," noting there were zero common factors between the two characters. "He is so inside the one that you cannot get a glimpse of the other."

In 1991, Val Kilmer took on the role of a real person for the first time in director Oliver Stone's "The Doors," a biographical film about the American rock band of the same name and its lead singer Jim Morrison. The movie tells of the band's formation, with UCLA film student Morrison (Kilmer) meeting grad student and future Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek (Kyle MacLachlan). Joined by guitarist Robby Krieger (Frank Whaley) and drummer John Densmore (Kevin Dillon), the band enjoys a meteoric rise to fame, tempered by tension as a result of Morrison's narcissism and use of drugs and alcohol. "The Doors" followed the titular band from its formation to Morrison's death in Paris a mere six years later at the age of 27.

The movie received mixed reviews, with a middling 57% critics score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, though Kilmer's performance as the debauched rock star garnered stellar praise. Critic Roger Ebert said the film's soundtrack blended Morrison's vocals with Kilmer's "so seamlessly that there is never, not even for a moment, the sensation that Kilmer is not singing everything we hear." "That illusion is strengthened by Kilmer's appearance," Ebert added. "He looks so uncannily like Jim Morrison that we feel this is not a case of casting, but of possession." 

The Doors drummer John Densmore echoed these sentiments in an interview with Forbes, saying "I think Val Kilmer should have been nominated for an Oscar. He gave me the creeps on the set – he was so close to Jim."

The 2008 film "Felon" had a limited theatrical release and kind of flew under the radar, essentially a direct-to-video film. The fish-out-of-water tale follows family man Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) in his journey through the penal system after unintentionally killing the burglar who targeted his family's house for a home invasion. Since his pursuit of the fleeing criminal outside the home went beyond the spirit of stand your ground laws or castle doctrine, he pleads no contest to manslaughter in order to avoid a murder charge. When he's sent to the Secure Housing Unit during an investigation into a stabbing on his prison transport bus, Wade bunks with John Smith (Kilmer) — a philosophical convicted murderer serving a life sentence — and they learn that their one hour of rec time is essentially an opportunity for the crooked prison guards to bet on fights between inmates. After getting more time added to his sentence, courtesy of guard Lieutenant Bill Jackson (Harold Perrineau), Wade loses his family and begins to lose his grip, with John his only ally.

In addition to offering visceral entertainment, "Felon" also served as commentary on the American justice system. "I don't think it's too grand to say the movie inspires you to think what it's really like in prison and make you grateful you're not there," Kilmer told the New York Daily News. "One out of 100 citizens of the U.S. is going to prison, and it's not that the system is making criminals, it's that it's making criminals better criminals."

"I'm your huckleberry." Nearly 30 years after Val Kilmer dropped this eminently quotable line in 1993's action Western "Tombstone," we're still not 100 percent sure what it means. But we do know that his turn as legendary gambler and gunfighter John "Doc" Holliday ranks among Kilmer's best onscreen performances. Action movie veteran Kurt Russell starred as protagonist Wyatt Earp — with Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott bringing to life his brothers Morgan and Virgil, respectively — in this take on the showdown between Team Earp and members of the outlaw Clanton and McLaury clans at the OK Corral in the titular Arizona town. Following these events, Wyatt Earp went on his legendary vendetta ride, chasing down the likes of real-life outlaw cowboys William "Curly Bill" Brocius (Powers Boothe) and Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn).

Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday was showered with praise. Film critic Roger Ebert would go on to use Kilmer's turn in the role as the measuring stick for all gunfighter roles in his review of "Wild Bill," referring to his performance in "Tombstone" as "the definitive saloon cowboy of our time." In an interview with Deadline, Kilmer revealed the genesis of the character he put together for the role. "I started with my secret weapon, the dialect and speech coach Tim Monich who works with the best people on earth, 24/7 for 30 years now. I told him I needed a dialect that didn't exist anymore and within days, there was a tape at my doorstep of a true Southern aristocrat who spoke so slowly and precisely about the theater he had restored ... The dialect was key. It informs even the walk, the thought process... his condescension."