Actor Kurt Russell revealed that Val Kilmer bought him an acre of land as they exchanged gifts after wrapping up filming on their iconic western “Tombstone.”
Russell, who played American lawman and folk hero Wyatt Earp alongside Kilmer’s acclaimed portrayal of the dentist-turned-gunslinger Doc Holliday in the 1993 classic, said he wanted to get something for his co-star to show his appreciation.
“When you’re working with people, you’d get them, sometimes at the end of the show, you get them trade gifts,” Russell told GQ last year, adding that gift-giving between co-stars was a “mandatory” gesture.
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He gifted Kilmer a burial plot in Boot Hill Graveyard — the historic cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona, where some of the most famous figures of the Old West rest.
However, unbeknownst to Russell, Kilmer had also gotten him a gift.
“What Val had gotten me was an acre of land overlooking Boot Hill,” the actor said.
Russell, 74, commented on the symbolic jest of both their gifts.
“Doc Holliday was all about death, but Wyatt’s all about life,” he said. “I guess that pretty much says it all.”
The “Escape from New York” star was straightforward when asked what it was like to have Kilmer as a co-star.
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“If you’re asking me if it was great working with Val Kilmer … the answer is absolutely,” Russell said.
Kilmer, who titled his memoir “I’m Your Huckleberry” after the infamous line he delivered as Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles after he succumbed to pneumonia, his daughter confirmed. He was 65.
His performance as Doc Holliday is remembered as one of his most recognized roles in his long career in Hollywood.
Kilmer wrote in his memoir that he “entitled this tome I’m Your Huckleberry for many reasons. I like the unintentional echo of Huckleberry Finn, which is my favorite novel and features my favorite character. I also realize that the line that I, playing the diseased Doc Holliday, articulated has become iconic.”
He also noted that “I’m your huckleberry,” which is what his character tells Michael Biehn’s character Johnny Ringo in “Tombstone” before easily besting him in a fatal shootout, means, “I’m your man. You’ve met your match.”
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Kilmer wrote about what portraying the American West icon on the silver screen meant to him.
“The archetype of the gunslinger, played with a naturalism that only Brando could invoke, is ever present. I could never give up the chance to play such a character. That’s why when I had the chance to play Doc Holliday, I grabbed it,” he wrote.
“I saw Doc’s situation as dire. I also saw his action as defiance in the face of death. I loved him.”
He also wrote about the pleasure of working alongside his castmates while filming.
“My castmates were wonderful — Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, and Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as his brothers — and the experience was profound,” Kilmer wrote.
“I cherish the experience of working with Kurt, whom I love like a brother. When the Academy widens their awards to include something like the lifetime achievement award for Best, Most Unique, Lovely Person for Decades in a Row, if Kurt isn’t the first recipient, I’ll eat my Doc Holliday hat.”
