ISLAMABAD
Kevin Spacey paid tribute to the late Val Kilmer while accepting a lifetime achievement trophy at the Septimius Awards last week, going so far as to dedicate the honor to his lifelong friend.
The two night award ceremony, held at Amsterdam’s Tuschinski Theater on Sept. 3-4, saw honors handed out in a variety of entertainment categories with appearances from Hollywood stars including Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good (who both won awards), Septimius ambassador Stedman Graham (longtime partner of Oprah Winfrey) and a host of international talent from both sides of the camera.
Spacey wasn’t alone in receiving a lifetime achievement honor as Irv Gotti, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Oscar-winning make-up artist Jenny Shircore and special effects supervisor Neil Corbould also won career-spanning trophies.
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While accepting at the black-tie gala, Spacey first thanked longtime manager and “best friend in this world,” Evan Lowenstein and his wife Lucie, before turning his attention to Kilmer. The two met at age 12 while in Sunday School together before going on to study at the same Southern California high school and at the prestigious Juilliard School of Drama in New York.
Spacey said that when he knew that he would be accepting the honor on the date of Sept. 4, it made him recall how he started his professional acting career exactly 44 years ago that very night alongside Kilmer, “playing two very small parts as soldiers” in a production of Henry IV, Part 1 at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater in New York.
“I am thinking of Val tonight,” Spacey said. “I am missing Val for all that he taught me, for the times that we shared together, but mostly for what he learned as a man, as a father and as a friend. I recall with enormous love in my heart that in 2017, when a number of people were walking away from me, Val was busy coming toward me, sending love and his support, and I will never forget him for that.”
