Val Kilmer (1959–2025)

Zorro, a masked figure whose mission it is is to vindicate the poor and oppressed, cuts a romantic figure against the landscape of Spanish California, circa 1806.* The governor, Luis Quintero and a local garrison commander, Captain Ramon, are corrupt martinets who disenfranchise the wealthiest and most respected families and cheat and abuse the poor - all in order to consolidate their political influence, shore up their family bloodlines and enrich themselves. Zorro tracks these villains show more down to redress social injustice. Exactly who Zorro is and why he must go about his missions disguised is not explained in the story; but the listener is treated to a swashbuckling tale on the order of Robin Hood :-)

Armin Shimerman (who is perhaps best known for his television work as Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) opens the narrative from a bartender's point of view. With a story like Zorro, an iconic adventure tale that has not been innocent of advancing certain Mexican stereotypes, there is the danger of rendering the story from a cartoonish and politically incorrect voice; but Armin Shimmerman tiptoes to the edge of this caricature without giving offense and sets the tone for a fun tale of adventure and romance.

Val Kilmer (memorable for his roles as Batman in the movie, Batman Returns and Doc Holliday in the movie, Tombstone) performs the roles of two characters: the fopish Don Diego and, of course the daring Zorro himself. Val Kilmer never pulls any punches: Always delivering his lines with the verve, slyness, humor or meekness as his roles demand. His performance (and his innate sexiness and talent) make it easy to see him, in the mind's eye, as Zorro!

The supporting cast, which includes a voice familiar to many audio book aficionados - Stefan Rudnicki as the friar, all step up and complete the picture that this audio drama draws. The Mark of Zorro is slickly produced: At times it feels like the live soundtrack to a movie! The sound effects are artfully edited in and the musical scoring for the most part works (There was one scene in which Classical music plays under Lolita's lines that didn't add anything, seemed out of place and was distracting.) This was a studio production and the producers had the luxury of providing all the audio cues to prompt the listener into this world. The Mark of Zorro is an enormous amount of fun! It doesn't succumb to cheesiness, there are a number of laugh-out-loud moments and, is family friendly :-)

Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, The Mark of Zorro; 03/20/2012 show less

Many actors who write their memoirs spend a great deal of time discussing conquests, vilifying old rivals, or overindulging in detailing every bit of minutia they can, to the point that the reader wishes their editor had been more forceful. Val Kilmer’s I’m Your Huckleberry, however, takes a different approach. His memoir focuses on a journey of love and artistic self-discovery. He is not afraid to be honest with his reader, admitting his faults and his mistakes, while never giving into show more base gossip and the opportunity to call out those who have wronged him. If he feels someone was wrong, he says so matter-of-factly, but he doesn’t linger or indulge in personal attacks. He even admits where he shares the blame, which is refreshing in its honesty and shows his commitment to love.

Kilmer does give some inside information on making his films, but this is not a behind-the-scenes book. Rather, Kilmer explores why he chose certain roles, how he sought artistic satisfaction in them, and how every experience was about finding the love. He discusses how certain roles didn’t turn out as he expected or where he may have created problems in his approach, but he makes himself all the more relatable to his reader when he discusses taking some roles just for the opportunity to work with his idols, letting his inner fanboy out.

Kilmer’s memoir is easily one of the most affirming works of this type and is exactly what the world needs right now in this time of uncertainty. Fans of Val Kilmer will find even more reason to like him while aspiring actors should use this as a guide on how to approach their calling in order to get the most fulfillment out of it. show less

This extraordinary autobiography by Val Kilmer was good for my heart and soul

"Death may come, Dylan may come. And there isn't much we can do about it." ~ Val Kilmer

"Passion, focus, and unpredictability," - in the Actors Studio interview in 2001, Val Kilmer used these words to describe himself. He is also enigmatic and idealistic, charming, perplexing, and purely, completely himself. I completed I'm Your Huckleberry, his 305 page autobiography, within two days after seeing the documentary VAL show more and wanting to know more about this incredibly creative person; I could not put the book down. If you don't have a smattering of a crush and fall in love with him at least a half a dozen times while reading his autobiography, you're a stronger person than I am.

The book is a stunning, poetic work of art. HE is a poetic work of art who loves to learn from art. Val says, "Like all true stories, mine includes extreme chiaroscuro, dazzling light and wretched darkness." Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

In my opinion, Val is one of our greatest actors; don't believe me, watch him as Doc Holliday, Mark Twain, Jim Morrison, and more. "To get into Jim's cloudy mind, I required absolute clarity."

Post tracheotomy, Val still lives on his own passionate terms and shares with readers raw from his heart (with a splash of internal rhyming and alliteration) his poetry, humor, hopes, dreams both literal and figuratively, and a gorgeous, guileless nature. He writes about his loves, losses, and instinctual, proactive, non-practical (but sometimes practical) artistic choices. His is a truly fascinating, intense life; not many trines in his astrology I'd guess.

He was born to be a great actor, "losing himself and finding himself at the same time," and does so fully. "What does it mean to be called a ham? Was I am ham? I was naturally and inordinately theatrical. I liked to carry on. I liked attention. I liked extravagant speech. I like to emote. I liked to talk. It didn't matter that I usually didn't know what I was talking about. And I loved it when dramatists elevated talk to poetry. So I did the same. I started writing dramas and poems. Some might have been painfully bad, but some might have shown signs of promise."

Also this: "Gaining a reputation as a cooperative thespian is not a bad thing. I do not condemn my brothers and sisters who have developed personalities pleasing to directors. I have, in fact, pleased dozens of directors. Others I have not. And when I have not, it isn't through ego. It's simply because i have connected with a character and must honor that connection. How to do that is an ongoing lesson..."

Val, who was "more accustomed to giving passion, less familiar with receiving it" on a filmset, shares so richly of his experiences I felt them. As a poetic traveler and Shakespearean, who dislikes the Valley where I was raised for a few years, I relate deeply to many of Val's life themes including this: "Lose Chatsworth, find Elizabethan England. Find Shakespeare. And having found Shakespeare, never look back," and traipsing through the green Irish countryside and reading out loud Yeats' immortal "The Lake of Innisfree," and loving Harry Nilsson and Bob Dylan.

Some bits of his book are purely poetic:
"Marlon was my guy. It wasn't about being flawlessly eloquent like Lawrence Olivier or John Gielgud. It wasn't about being suave like Cary Grant or homespun like Gary Cooper. It was about the power of silence. The long, pregnant pause. The understatement. The boiling subtext. The unexpressed. The mystery. The mumbling. Trying as we all do in life to make sense of a moment. The rage that remains inside. The penetrating look. Eyes slightly shifting. Lips slightly curling. The beauty of subterfuge."

Some are funny:
"It goes like this, Val," he said, "I'm the bad guy. You're the good guy." ~ Sam Shepard to Val during the filming of Thunderheart when Val got wrapped up in character dissection.

Some sad and observant:
Writing about the paramedics who came to get him when he threw up blood in Cher's guesthouse: "I was barely able to stand. When they put me on a stretcher and got me inside, they kept yapping about their recent bowling tournament. I was hardly reassured."

Some heartrending and insightful:
And after losing his speech due to the tracheotomy: "They say that when one of your five senses is compromised, you can feel the others become heightened. My speech was compromised, but I was seeing and feeling things I had never seen or felt before."

Some are just all that:
"When I stopped focusing on finding that perfect wife, that energy stream was channeled into other equally wild and mystical avenues. I longed for a deeper layer of self-exploration. I made a decision that, rather than looking for Love, I would let Love be me, Let Love be my life, Let Love seep through the pages of this, my life story."

I haven't this kind of powerful reaction to a book in decades. Val's book spoke to me. show less

Road trip audiobook!

Val Kilmer takes us on a tour through his life, filmography, and string of A-list lovers.

A terrific actor, he had the reputation of being a difficult oddball in his personal life, and this book pretty much cements that reputation as being very accurate. Still, he's a fascinating individual, and I was charmed by his insights and digressions even when they went askew or his prose became a bit too poetic (he even sprinkles in several actual poems he wrote).

It's a shame show more cancer stole his voice away and he was unable to narrate this audiobook himself, but Will Forte, George Newbern, and Mare Winningham step up to read it on his behalf, even if the constant switching between voices was a bit jarring at times. show less