In 2015, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer; he had a procedure on his trachea that damaged his vocal cords to the point where he had extreme difficulty speaking.

That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of an episode of ABC Afterschool Special called One Too Many, which was an educational drama on drinking and driving;[20] it also starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer.

Also in 1983, Kilmer self-published a collection of his own poetry entitled My Edens After Burns, that included poems inspired by his time with Pfeiffer.

He turned down a role in David Lynch's Blue Velvet[25] before being cast as naval aviator "Iceman" in the action film Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise.

After several delays, director Oliver Stone finally started production on the film The Doors, based on the story of the band of the same name.

Kilmer saw Morrison's story as one that could be told "a thousand different ways" and did not want to tell it by playing the role in the style of drugs, with which Oliver Stone agreed.

[28] Stone was not impressed with the tape, but Paul A. Rothchild (the original producer of the Doors) said "I was shaken by it" and suggested they record Kilmer in the studio.

[30] In the early 1990s, Kilmer starred in the mystery thriller Thunderheart, the action comedy The Real McCoy, and again teamed with Top Gun director Tony Scott to play Elvis Presley in True Romance, which was written by Quentin Tarantino.

[32] In December 1993 Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher had seen Tombstone and was most impressed with Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday.

[33] William Baldwin (who previously worked with Schumacher on Flatliners) was reported to be a top contender, though just days after Keaton dropped out, Kilmer was cast.

[41][42] In 1996 he appeared in a largely unknown film, Dead Girl, and starred alongside Marlon Brando in the poorly received[43] The Island of Dr. Moreau.

Kilmer looked forward to the title role as a change toward a more fun, less serious action thriller, while enjoying the "master of disguise" chameleon characters like a mad artist, a nerdy British scientist, a cleaner, and a Russian mob boss.

[48] The same year, he teamed with his True Romance co-star, Christian Slater to appear in the low-budget film, Hard Cash, also known as Run for the Money.

The next year, he starred in David Mamet's Spartan, where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the President.

Kilmer next appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production, Alexander, which received poor reviews.

Finally in 2004, Kilmer appeared in an episode of Entourage, where he played a Sherpa whose primary source of income was growing, harvesting and distributing high-quality cannabis, all under a guise of metaphysical insights.

In 2006, he reunited with director Tony Scott a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit Déjà Vu.

In 2007, he guest-starred on the hit TV series Numb3rs in the episode "Trust Metric", portraying torture expert Mason Lancer.

The film was given only a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles in 2008, but it developed into a success secondary to positive word of mouth.

[citation needed] Kilmer was the voice of the car KITT for the 2008 Knight Rider TV pilot film and the following television series.

In 2010 Kilmer starred in Michael Oblowitz's horror film The Traveler, in which he played the vengeful spirit of a man who had been tortured and murdered while in police custody.

In 2010, Kilmer appeared as the villain Dieter Von Cunth in MacGruber and had a small cameo role in the music video for Tenacious D's "To Be the Best".

"[59] In 2002, Kilmer worked on a film about the life of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science church,[60] and Mark Twain, one of her most famous critics.

"[61] Citizen Twain was initially performed as a one-man show Hollywood workshop in April 2012; it then became the basis of Kilmer's film project, which would be his directorial debut.

[63][64] Kilmer also appeared in the 2017 film The Snowman, opposite Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson and directed by Tomas Alfredson.

[60] Kilmer has dated Cher, Lesley Ann Warren, Cindy Crawford, Angelina Jolie, Daryl Hannah and Ellen Barkin.

"[70] Richard Stanley, who directed Kilmer for three days in The Island of Dr. Moreau before being fired, recalled, "Val would arrive, and an argument would happen.

[80][81] In December 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kilmer had gone through a "two-year battle with throat cancer" and that "a procedure on his trachea has reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath".

[2] Although initially reluctant to start medical treatment due to his beliefs, Kilmer underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies.

[2][3][4][5][82] Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years, but he detailed ongoing struggles with medical treatments including the use of a feeding tube to eat.