Inside Val Kilmer's 11-year struggle with throat cancer

Kilmer had the disease since his diagnosis in 2014 before succumbing to pneumonia on Tuesday night.

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Val Kilmer, the actor known for his roles in "Top Gun" and "Heat," died from pneumonia Tuesday night in Los Angeles after struggling with throat cancer for years that permanently altered his voice.

The 65-year-old was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and recovered before he ultimately underwent painful treatments that included a tracheostomy. His daughter confirmed his Tuesday death from pneumonia to The Associated Press.

"While working with Val on 'Heat,' I always marveled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character," director Michael Mann said in a Wednesday post on Instagram.

"After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news."

Actor Val Kilmer, best known for his roles in “Top Gun,” “The Doors,” and “Tombstone” is dead at 65.

Despite the brutal toll cancer took on Kilmer, the actor said he never felt bad about his health issues.

"I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” the long-time smoker Kilmer said in “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed."

Kilmer famously revived his "Iceman" role in "Top Gun: Maverick," bringing the actor's real-life struggles to screen and playing a cancer-inflicted commander who eventually passes away during the sequel.

“I have no regrets,” Kilmer told AP in 2021. “I’ve witnessed and experienced miracles.”

Kilmer had initially kept his cancer from the public, only disclosing it in 2017 during a Reddit Q&A. The disclosure came after Michael Douglas disclosed that both he and Kilmer were fighting throat cancer.

Kilmer once recalled how, early in his cancer battle in 2015, he got horribly sick while staying with his former lover and long-time friend Cher.

"One night, I suddenly awoke vomiting blood that covered the bed like a scene out of 'The Godfather,'" Kilmer wrote in his 2020 memoir, "I’m Your Huckleberry."

"I prayed immediately then called 911. Then alerted my hostess. Cher stepped in and stepped up.”

Cher paid tribute to Kilmer on Wednesday, calling him "BRILLIANT as Mark Twain" and "BRAVE here during ur sickness."

In a rare 2020 interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," the actor disclosed that he had to undergo a tracheostomy to help him breathe, an invasive throat procedure that forever altered his distinct voice.

He also underwent chemotherapy and radiation.

"I feel a lot better than I sound, but I feel wonderful," he said. "I was diagnosed with throat cancer, which healed very quickly. This is a tracheotomy to help me breathe because the glands in my throat swelled up as well."

Kilmer, however, still managed to find humor in such a devastating development.

When asked what he missed about losing his voice, the actor said on "Good Morning America": "That I had one! And that I didn’t laugh like a pirate."

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

Val Kilmer, of 'Top Gun' and 'Batman Forever' fame, dies at 65 The revelation that made Sheryl Lee Ralph cry on 'Finding Your Roots' Cory Booker goes viral in shattering a nearly 70-year record with historic marathon Senate speech

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