David Breashears, Filmmaker who Co-produced Everest Documentary, Dies at 68

Mountaineers check the tents before sending them to Everest base camp as they prepare for the upcoming climbing season, in Kathmandu, Nepal March 7, 2024. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
Mountaineers check the tents before sending them to Everest base camp as they prepare for the upcoming climbing season, in Kathmandu, Nepal March 7, 2024. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
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David Breashears, Filmmaker who Co-produced Everest Documentary, Dies at 68

Mountaineers check the tents before sending them to Everest base camp as they prepare for the upcoming climbing season, in Kathmandu, Nepal March 7, 2024. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
Mountaineers check the tents before sending them to Everest base camp as they prepare for the upcoming climbing season, in Kathmandu, Nepal March 7, 2024. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

David Breashears, a mountaineer, author and filmmaker who co-directed and co-produced a 1998 IMAX documentary about climbing Mount Everest, has died, his business manager confirmed Saturday. He was 68.
Breashears was found unresponsive at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on Thursday, Ellen Golbranson said. She said he died of natural causes but "the exact cause of death remains unknown at this time.”
Breashears summited Mount Everest five times, including with the IMAX camera in 1996, his family said.
"He combined his passion for climbing and photography to become one of the world’s most admired adventure filmmakers,” the family said in a written statement.
In 2007, Breashears founded GlacierWorks, which describes itself on Facebook as a nonprofit organization that “highlights changes to Himalayan glaciers through art, science, and adventure."
“With GlacierWorks, he used his climbing and photography experience to create unique records revealing the dramatic effects of climate change on the historic mountain range,” his family said.
In 1983, Breashears transmitted the first live television pictures from the summit of Everest, according to his website, which also says that in 1985 he became the first US citizen to reach the summit twice.
Breashears and his team were filming the Everest documentary when the May 10, 1996, blizzard struck the mountain, killing eight climbers. He and his team stopped filming to help the climbers.



Tom Cruise Pays Tribute to Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Tom Cruise Pays Tribute to Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Tom Cruise led a moment of silence in honor of Val Kilmer at CinemaCon, the official convention of theater owners in the United States. Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Tom Cruise paid tribute to late "Top Gun" co-star Val Kilmer on Thursday, leading movie theater owners in a moment's silence at the CinemaCon event before unveiling new footage from his latest "Mission: Impossible" movie.

"I'd like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer," said Cruise, at the start of his hotly anticipated appearance at the annual industry summit in Las Vegas.

"I really can't tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human being, and how grateful and honored I was when he joined 'Top Gun' and then came back for 'Top Gun: Maverick," said Cruise.

Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s, who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original 1986 "Top Gun", died aged 65, his family announced this week.

The cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer had battled throat cancer after being diagnosed in 2014, and made his final appearance in the "Top Gun" 2022 sequel "Maverick," physically diminished and with a raspy voice.

Cruise on Thursday led the audience at Caesars Palace casino in a lengthy silence, asking attendees to "take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had" watching Kilmer on the big screen.

"I wish you well on your next journey," said Cruise, to Kilmer.

He added to the attendees: "Thank you all for doing that. I know he appreciates it."

"Top Gun" was Kilmer's breakout role. Starring opposite Cruise, he played the cocky, square-jawed and mostly silent fighter pilot in training Tom "Iceman" Kazansky.

When he reprised his role as "Iceman" in the long-awaited sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," Kilmer's real-life health issues were written into the character.

Cruise on Thursday also introduced a new trailer for "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," out May 23.

Footage shows Cruise's ageless hero Ethan Hunt clinging to the wheels of a small biplane as it soars down a narrow canyon and barrel rolls through the skies.

The trailer contained extensive flashbacks to famous scenes from earlier in the eight-film blockbuster franchise, such as Cruise dangling between lasers and climbing the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.

"I need you to trust me one last time," says Cruise's character, in what Paramount is marketing as supposedly the final movie of the franchise.