Warm memories of Iceman: Santa Feans remember actor Val Kilmer's impact

“I didn’t have a clue who he was, and I told him that,” said Hardie, a longtime Santa Fe resident. Kilmer later told her it was part of the reason he and his then-wife, actor Joanne Whalley, liked Hardie, she added.

“He said, ‘Joanna and I thought that was a good thing because you were taking the job because we were us and not because we were famous,’ ” she said.

Kilmer, who died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 65, is one of the most famous people to call New Mexico home.

The actor, whose iconic roles included Iceman in Top Gun, Jim Morrison in The Doors and Doc Holliday in Tombstone, lived in the Land of Enchantment for nearly two decades, first at a ranch in Tesuque with two buffalo and other farm animals and then on a nearly 6,000-acre ranch along the Pecos River.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the “beautiful spaces” of Northern New Mexico provided Kilmer with peace and tranquility away from Hollywood’s spotlight.

“Beyond acting, his artwork graced our local galleries, demonstrating his embrace of New Mexico not just as a residence, but as a place to create,” the governor said in a Facebook post. “Val once said about filming here: ‘I love filming in New Mexico just because of the variety of the landscapes and the character of the people.’ ”

‘I love it here’

Kilmer’s time in New Mexico wasn’t always peaceful and tranquil.

In 2003, Rolling Stone quoted Kilmer as saying about San Miguel County, “I live in the homicide capital of the Southwest. Eighty percent of the people in my county are drunk.”

Kilmer later apologized for his remarks, as well as those in an Esquire article where he was quoted as saying he understands the Vietnam War better than veterans there because many are “borderline criminals or poor ... wretched kids” who “got beat up by their dads” and “couldn’t finagle a scholarship.”

“I’d just like to say from my heart that I love it here,” he told a packed meeting of the San Miguel County Commission in June 2010, according to reports from the time. “My children were born here. My grandfather’s buried down in Truth or Consequences. I got married here.”

Joanna Prukop, former Cabinet secretary of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, said former Gov. Bill Richardson, who died in September 2023, asked her to meet Kilmer because he was interested in possibly putting in some kind of commercial-scale renewable energy facility on his property in Rowe.

“Val needed a way to make an income off of that ranch that could not only help pay for the ranch but pay his support and stuff,” she said. “His ideas ranged from having some kind of a self-sufficient ecotourism type site out there that was based on green energy and recreation on the land. He thought about putting some kind of museum out there that would attract tourists to not only the ranch but also Santa Fe.”

Prukop said Kilmer tried to hire her to develop some type of business on the site, but she said she wasn’t interested.

“I did meet his kids and talk with him a lot about ideas,” she said. “I did definitely get the impression that he was a very talented man, although a bit eccentric.”

Prukop said she knew Kilmer was a celebrity and had seen a number of his movies, including Top Gun.

“Certainly, there was a celebrity element to it, although I must tell you I didn’t get sucked in by that because some of those ideas were pretty pie in the sky. ... Val had a big imagination.”

Film industry supporter

Nani Rivera, executive director of the Santa Fe Film Festival, which recognized Kilmer with its Luminaria Award last year for his “demonstrated exceptional achievement in the arts,” said Kilmer was instrumental in establishing the state’s film incentive program.

He was part of a small group of film industry advocates who lobbied the Legislature.

“He drew crowds,” she said. “It’s really because of him that New Mexico even has a film incentive program. He pushed for it very, very aggressively and then at the same time during that time, the film festival was born. Because of all this film energy, a group of people decided to bring the film festival back from when it had shut down.”

Kilmer was a longtime supporter of the film festival and served as its honorary chairman in 2010.

Rivera said Kilmer helped the film festival with a transition in leadership in 2010.

“He stepped in and opened his ranch to the Santa Fe Film Festival for events and fundraisers and basically extended a hand out to help us during that time,” she said.

Rivera said she believes the movie industry in New Mexico wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for Kilmer.

“All the stories you hear about Kilmer, I don’t think people really realize how instrumental he was in the creation of what we even have,” she said.

Dabbling in politics

Kilmer even briefly flirted with running for governor.

“If he jumps in a race he’s got name ID, so it can’t be discounted,” Richardson said in a 2008 interview.

Former longtime New Mexican reporter Steve Terrell said the first time he may have met Kilmer was outside the reception area of disgraced former state Sen. Phil Griego’s office at the Capitol.

“He hated Val Kilmer because Val Kilmer said those things in Rolling Stone about San Miguel County being the murder capital,” Terrell said. “I think Richardson had them both over for dinner at some point.”

Terrell said he called Kilmer for comment amid rumblings he was considering a gubernatorial run after voters started receiving calls from pollsters.

“I said, ‘Val, is this you doing this?’ And he was, ‘Uh, uh, uh, uh. Let me get back to you.’ And he never did,” he said.

Terrell said Kilmer was friendly all the time and always smiling.

“I think he wanted to have good ties with the press in case he did run for governor,” he said.

Kilmer didn’t ever throw his hat in the ring, but he was an influential presence nonetheless.

‘He felt grounded here’

At times, he was also a quiet presence.

Longtime Santa Feans remember Kilmer eating at Tia Sophia’s or having a drink at a local watering hole, including the former Palace Restaurant and Saloon.

The New Mexico Wildlife Center said Kilmer was a strong supporter during his time in the state.

“He graciously allowed us to host events at his Pecos River Ranch in 2008 and 2009, and the ranch served as a beautiful release site for rehabilitated bears, falcons, elk, and other wildlife,” the center wrote in a Facebook post. “We are deeply grateful for Mr. Kilmer’s support of wildlife conservation in New Mexico.”

For years, he distributed Thanksgiving food baskets to his neighbors in Pecos Valley communities.

Hardie, who worked for Kilmer and Whalley for three years, said the want ad she answered stated the couple were based in Los Angeles and New Mexico. She had just moved back to her native England from San Francisco and told Kilmer she didn’t really like Los Angeles; she asked if she could live in New Mexico.

“He thought about it, and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s where our home is. I understand. That’s why we live in Santa Fe,’ ” she recalled. “So here I am, 34 years later.”

Hardie said Kilmer could be demanding and “quite difficult” but he wasn’t a mean person.

“He was very kind to people,” she said. “He worried if people were sick or upset. He tuned into people, really, I think that’s how he acted. He had to be the character.”

Kilmer was an excellent horseman, Hardie noted.

“He was a fabulous rider,” she said. “He grew up next to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. They were his next-door neighbors.”

Hardie, a retired Santa Fe New Mexican employee, said Kilmer “just loved Rowe” and wanted to live on the Pecos River. Asked what he loved about New Mexico, Hardie said “the whole part of it.”