Remains found last week in mountains northeast of Los Angeles were confirmed to belong to actor Julian Sands, who has been missing since he went hiking in the Mt. Baldy wilderness in January, authorities said Tuesday.
Sands was reported missing from the Baldy Bowl area of Mt. Baldy, about 45 miles from downtown Los Angeles, on Jan. 13, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said.
Sheriff’s officials said he was hiking in the Angeles National Forest, which was left wet and icy after a series of Pacific storms produced several inches of snow, damaged mountain roads with muddy, overflowing streams, and inspired the closure of off-road driving trails.
On Saturday, people hiking in the Mt. Baldy wilderness discovered human remains and reported them to the Fontana Sheriff’s Station, San Bernardino officials said.
The remains were taken to the coroner’s office for identification.
Parts of the mountain were still inaccessible in June, with some areas including steep terrain and ravines still buried under 10 or more feet of ice and snow, the sheriff’s department said.
The department said June 19 that crews continued the search for Sands on June 17, and said efforts to find him would continue “in a limited capacity.”
Since he was first reported missing in January, there have been eight ground and air searches for Sands, with volunteers working over 500 hours to find him, the department said. There have also been eight unrelated search and rescue operations in the Mt. Baldy area.
Mt. Baldy, originally known as Mt. San Antonio, is said to be the highest peak in Los Angeles County, and is on the border of Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County. On clear winter days it can be seen from downtown L.A.
Searches of the area indicated Sands’ cellphone activity ceased by Jan. 13, and further attempts to communicate with the device were unsuccessful, the sheriff’s department said.
Sands got his first notable role on an NBC miniseries, “The Sun Also Rises,” in 1984. He achieved his breakout performance in the 1985 movie “A Room With a View,” the year’s Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards.
Other notable big-screen appearances include a part in the Academy Award-winning movie “The Killing Fields,” as well as in “Arachnophobia.” He had roles on television’s “24” and “Smallville.”
Born in Yorkshire, England, Sands studied at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama before moving to Los Angeles. He was known to return to his homeland occasionally to perform on-stage.
In an interview with the U.K.’s Guardian, published in 2020, Sands said his closest brush with death was during a climb in the Andes Mountains in the early 1990s, during which fellow mountaineers died amid bad weather and high altitude.
When he was asked when he was happiest, the actor said, “Close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning.”
Sands was a resident of L.A.’s North Hollywood neighborhood, according to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department.
He leaves behind his wife and three adult children.
Andrew Blankstein contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
