Part I
These words spoken by Val Kilmer offer the most significant insight into a man widely regarded as an enigma; a man who walks his own path, faithful to his own ideals, never compelled to explain himself or his choices, to anyone. Long ago, given permission to be exactly who he was, Val carved his life, his career, and his ambitions from that cornerstone. Highly intelligent, talented and complex, with a multitude of interests, Val has, throughout his life, remained a mystery to those who can’t quite comprehend a man who embodies the simple principle, ‘to thine own self be true’.
Immediately displaying a flair for the dramatic, Val Edward Kilmer made his first appearance in the last few hours of the last day of the decade, New Year’s Eve, 1959, in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, CA. Disliking his uncommon name in early years, Val later came to appreciate it as a unique asset, which many others in his profession must invent for themselves. Born under the sun sign of Capricorn, he exhibits that sign’s most prominent traits: elusive, dominating, disciplined, aloof, protective, loyal, sensitive and sympathetic. He is known for his scrupulous professional standards, intense concentration, and fearless choice of projects, choosing not just for financial considerations, but more importantly, for the personal experience and growth opportunities they present. As often noted, he can be a perfectionist who is never quite satisfied, and has been depicted as one who believes his way is always right. Under the Chinese Zodiac, Val’s sign is the Boar whose motto is – no surprise - "Take me as you find me."
The second of the three sons of parents Eugene and Gladys, Val seems to have been closest to his younger brother, Wesley. Considered by Val to be to be the most talented of the three brothers, he calls Wesley "wildly creative," and a "genius." Tragically, Wesley, an epileptic, drowned while swimming alone in the family pool at the age of 16, just as Val was in route to Juilliard. Older brother Mark, Val describes as the "class clown." Reportedly, the brothers are estranged due to an unfortunate business dispute over property left to them by their father, and comments made publicly by Mark regarding Val’s divorce from actress Joanne Whalley. When asked about the estrangement Val said "Yeah, that's true. I haven't talked to him in quite a long while. But there's nothing I can really say about it, because even if I expressed myself perfectly here, he might not like the way it came out."
An adventurous child, Val was never too interested in TV, choosing instead to spend most of his time outdoors, roaming the hills around his home catching rattlesnakes, tarantulas and scorpions. He and his friends chased the train through the Chatsworth tunnel, set fires in caves and he once got himself stuck in the top of a 45-foot eucalyptus tree. He raced motocross, surfed and rode in junior rodeos. A happy, if somewhat dangerous, boyhood full of all the "Tom Sawyer stuff". Val briefly described two near death experiences in motorcycle and surfing accidents, saying, "Oh, died actually – gone all the way." An intriguing statement to be sure, but as he intends to write about it himself one day, he declined the details.
The Kilmers raised their family of three boys in the town of Chatsworth, CA, first across the road from the ranch of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and later, actually on the ranch which the Kilmer’s purchased from them. To kids growing up near the end of a great cowboy and westerns era, having "The King of The Cowboys" living in their very own neighborhood must have been a pretty powerful lure. As Val tells it, "I had five girl cousins and two brothers, and there was always a small army of us goofing around with some of the neighbor’s kids." One day, elected to ring the bell, Val spoke to Dale Evans who answered the door in hair curlers, ’Hi Darlin,’ Dale said in her heavy southern accent. Then, in denying Val's request for Rogers to come out and play, she said, 'No, I think he’s a little busy right now.'
Val often recalls with amusement how his family worried about Dale, "When Trigger died, they stuffed him – standing on his hind legs – and put him in the living room. Then their dog Bullet died, and they did the same thing to him. We were always afraid that if Dale died, we’d walk in one day and find her, stuffed and holding a tray, in the kitchen." Living near the Rogers was great fun for the young kids, as illustrated by Val’s description of this "surreal" scene in his neighborhood. "Roy’s Cadillac was suede throughout and had inlaid silver dollars all over it. The car had saddles for bucket seats, a Winchester for a steering wheel and giant horns on the hood. You’d see it at the market."
"Our house was 60 years old," Val recalled. "The original owner was a wood carver, and one of the things she made was the marvelous mantel over the fireplace with the inscription, ‘You Cannot Be Grand and Comfortable’ – meaning you can’t have it all." "The inscription was prophetic," he said. "My parents divorced when I was nine."
While the Kilmer boys divided their time between mother and father, they lived mostly with their father, owner of an aerodynamics distribution company, and in later years, a real estate developer who "made and lost a fortune in his lifetime". Val has admitted, "I regret not interviewing my father more; he had an amazing life."
Born to a full-blooded Cherokee mother and gold miner father, originally from Tennessee, who was aged 60 at the time of his birth, Gene Kilmer was raised "dirt poor" on Zuni Indian land in the Apache Mountains of New Mexico. Characterized by his son as "very eccentric, extreme in his personality, elusive, powerful, but shy. My dad was a strange, eccentric guy. He was supportive, but at the end of the day, not all that interested."
Gene Kilmer grew up on tales of the old west, which he passed on to his boys. "…instead of Mother Goose, we were brought up on true stories from his life. His stories were like the Southwest version of Mark Twain – full of piercing insights into character and culture and nature, with perfectly satisfying plots. He told us how, when he was a child, a golden eagle attacked him, and how he fought it off." The legends were to capture Val’s imagination and influence much of his life. As Val grew to manhood, he was drawn to the wilderness described by his father, and so set out in search of it around the world, beginning his life long love affair with Africa.
Though Val has expressed the love and respect he has always felt for his parents, his relationship with them was not always perfect. "You never stop wanting your parents to love you, then, when you become an adult, you never stop wanting them to grow up. By the time my dad died, I’d already had resolution." Gene died in 1993 while his son was filming Tombstone. Gladys, who was a full time mother during her marriage to Gene, "and a darn good one," according to Val, remarried, and is now widowed and living in Arizona. She and Val seem to be very close. Gladys has joined him on remote movie sets, attended premiers and other events with her son, and is rumored to have appeared as a Babushka, in a street scene in The Saint.
