Entertainment
Legendary actor Val Kilmer dies at 65
Prolific American actor Val Kilmer, who was propelled to fame with “Top Gun” and went on to starring roles as Batman and Jim Morrison, has died at age 65, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The cause of death was pneumonia, his daughter Mercedes Kilmer told the Times. He had battled throat cancer following a 2014 diagnosis, but later recovered, she said.
AFP has reached out to his representatives for comment.
Originally a stage actor, Kilmer burst onto the big screen full of charisma, cast as a rock star in Cold War spoof “Top Secret!” in 1984.
Two years later, he gained fame as the cocky, if mostly silent fighter pilot in training Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in box office smash hit “Top Gun,” playing a rival to Tom Cruise’s “Maverick.”
A versatile character actor whose career spanned decades, Kilmer toggled between blockbusters and smaller-budget independent films. He got a shot at leading man status in Oliver Stone’s “The Doors,” depicting Jim Morrison’s journey from a psychedelics-loving LA film student to 60s rock frontman.
After a cameo in Quentin Tarantino-written “True Romance,” Kilmer went on to star alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in “Heat” and took a turn as the masked Gotham vigilante in “Batman Forever,” between the Bruce Wayne portrayals by Michael Keaton and George Clooney.
A 1996 Entertainment Weekly cover story dubbed Kilmer “The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate,” depicting him as a sometimes surly eccentric with exasperating work habits.
A New York Times interviewer in 2002 said Kilmer “hardly lives up to that reputation” and found the actor instead “friendly, buoyant and so open that he often volunteers personal details about his life and is quick to laugh at himself.”
“You have to learn to speak Val,” director D. J. Caruso told the newspaper.– ‘ Magical life’ –Born Val Edward Kilmer on New Year’s Eve 1959, he began acting in commercials as a child.
Kilmer was the youngest person ever accepted to the drama department at New York’s fabled Juilliard school, and made his Broadway debut in 1983 alongside Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.
In Hollywood, the Los Angeles native longed to make serious films but found himself in a series of schlocky blockbusters and expensive flops in the early 2000s.
Chastened by a decade or more of low-budget movies, he was mounting a comeback in the 2010s with a successful stage show about Mark Twain that he hoped to turn into a film when he was struck by cancer.
“Val,” an intimate documentary about Kilmer’s stratospheric rise and later fall in Hollywood, premiered at the Cannes film Festival in 2021 and showed him struggling for air after a tracheotomy.
Kilmer “has the aura of a man who was dealt his cosmic comeuppance and came through it,” US publication Variety wrote of the film.
“He fell from stardom, maybe from grace, but he did it his way.”When he reprised his role as “Iceman” in the long-awaited sequel “Top Gun: Maverick,” Kilmer’s real-life health issues,and rasp of voice,were written into the character.“
Instead of treating Kilmer — and, indeed, the entire notion of Top Gun — as a throwaway nostalgia object, he’s given a celluloid swan song that’ll stand the test of time,” GQ wrote.
On his website, Kilmer said he had led a “magical life.”
“For more than half a century, I have been honing my art, no matter the medium. Be it literature, movies, poetry, painting, music, or tracking exotic and beautiful wildlife,” he wrote.
According to the Times, he is survived by two children, Mercedes and Jack Kilmer.
AFP
Entertainment
Breaking: Nollywood actor Alexx Ekubo dies at 40
Known for his versatility on screen and widely admired for his striking looks, Ekubo built a successful career in Nollywood, featuring in numerous hit films and television productions.
•Alexx Ekubo
Popular Nollywood actor Alexx Ekubo has died at the age of 40 after a prolonged battle with cancer.
According to The Sun Nigeria, family sources said the actor passed away on Monday, May 11, 2026, following months of illness.
Alexx Ekubo’s absence from the public eye had raised concerns among fans and colleagues, as he had stayed away from social media for an extended period.
The actor’s last social media post was made in December 2024, shortly after news broke that his engagement had been called off.
Known for his versatility on screen and widely admired for his striking looks, Ekubo built a successful career in Nollywood, featuring in numerous hit films and television productions.
Entertainment
Dress made from 500 loaves stuns African film awards
Some social media fans hailed the design describing it as “a true definition of carrying your business on the head”
- * Queen Mercy Atang in her dress made of bread: Credit BBC/ Gift Ufuoma
Here’s a look at some of the most talked-about appearances and moments from the 12th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) in Nigeria with dramatic trains, sculptural gowns, shimmering fabrics and heavily theatrical designs that once again transformed the event from an awards show into a spectacle of style held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.
The annual ceremony celebrates achievements in African film, television and digital storytelling, while also serving as one of the continent’s biggest cultural showcases where celebrities compete for being best-dressed, as much as they do for awards.
The red carpet turns into a bakery
Reality TV star Queen Mercy Atang arrived in one of the evening’s most attention-grabbing looks, a dress made from more than 500 loaves of bread, she said.
Surrounded by two maidens carrying trays of bread, several assistants helping carry the outfit across the carpet, Atang struggled to move freely.
Speaking to the BBC, she said that the outfit was designed to promote her bread-baking business and insisted the appearance was intentional marketing rather than shock value.
“What other place is better to advertise my business than the AMVCA?” she said.
The dress was designed by the iconic Toyin Lawan of Tiannah’s Empire, who commented on Instagram that she’s beginning a trend of “everyone wear your business”.
The look immediately became one of the night’s biggest social media talking points.
Some social media fans hailed the design describing it as “a true definition of carrying your business on the head”.
However, not all fans were impressed. Some said the display represented a waste of food, a suggestion the reality TV star rejected.
Entertainment
Davido to be inducted into Black Music Walk of Fame
The 2026 Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled to hold on June 1, 2026, in Atlanta, along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Northside Drive, outside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
•Davido arrives at the 2026 Grammy Awards red carpet in Los Angeles on Sunday February 1, 2026. Photo: OkayAfrica.
Afrobeats star David Adeleke ‘Davido’ is set to be honoured at the 2026 Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia.
American rapper Ludacris is also expected to be honoured at the event.
The 2026 Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled to hold on June 1, 2026, in Atlanta, along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Northside Drive, outside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The organisers said that Davido has helped bring African music to the forefront of the international stage.
” Known for his infectious hits, dynamic performances, and cross-cultural collaborations, he has built a sound that transcends borders while staying rooted in his heritage.
“Beyond music, his impact extends into philanthropy and entrepreneurship, inspiring a new generation of artists across the globe.”
Davido is one of Africa’s most commercially successful music stars, with several international collaborations and chart-topping projects to his name.
Since breaking into the mainstream with his 2011 hit song Dami Duro, the singer has gone on to release globally recognised tracks including Fall, If, Unavailable and Feel.
He has also collaborated with international music stars such as Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Lil Baby and Summer Walker.
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