Val Kilmer's Memoir Is Called 'I'm Your Huckleberry,' but What Does That Mean?

Following the news of his death, many are learning more about Val Kilmer's life and legacy, which obviously includes a number of iconic film roles. Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and spent the last decade of his life telling his own story, wrote a memoir in 2020 that covered every part of his life.

That memoir was titled I'm Your Huckleberry, which has led some to wonder what that phrase means and where it originated. Here's what we know.

Val chose to name his memoir after one of his most iconic movie quotes. The line comes from Doc Holliday, one of the legends of the Old West, and the man that Val played in the 1993 film Tombstone. Tombstone is widely remembered as one of Val's very best performances, and that's at least in part because of the swagger he brought to the role. "I'm your Huckleberry" is one of Doc's most important lines in the film.

The phrase, which was actually used in the Old West, is meant to suggest that a person is up to a task. That could mean that they are capable of being your romantic partner or that they are ready and willing to pitch in on some sort of job. Basically, it just means that they are the right person for what you're looking for.

In Tombstone, Doc uses the phrase to suggest that he's more than capable of handling a duel with Johnny Ringo.

There is some contention that the word means something akin to pallbearers, but Val actually dispels that notion in his memoir.

“By the way, despite some fans’ contention that in the 1800s the handles of caskets were called huckles and thus word huckle bearer was a term for pall bearer, I do not say, ‘I’m your huckle bearer.’ I say, ‘I’m your huckleberry,’ connotating, ‘I’m your man. You’ve met your match,'" he explains.

Val clearly used the quote in part because it's so closely associated with one of his biggest roles. Of course, it also fit well because it's exactly the mantra that he and likely many other actors ascribe to. It's a line that suggests that Val felt he was the right person for the moment, that he existed to fill space and managed to ascend to the peaks of Hollywood.

Val's life was not without controversy, but at the end of his 65 years, many are looking back at his remarkable legacy of onscreen roles and remembering just how many different things he tried over the course of his career. Not every movie he made was a success, but there are a half-dozen movies of his that people will continue to watch for years to come.

That might not be an Oscar, but it's worth a whole lot, anyway. Following the news of his death, it's clear that Val will be missed by millions.