The remains found last week in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles were confirmed to belong to actor Julian Sands, who has been missing since January hiking in the wilderness of Mt. Baldy, authorities said Tuesday.
Sands was reported missing in 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 turned wet and icy after a series of Pacific storms dumped several inches of snow, damaged mountain roads with muddy and overflowing streams and they inspired the closure of off-road driving routes.
On Saturday, people hiking in the wilderness of Mt. Baldy 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 feet of ice and snow, the sheriff’s department said.
The department said June 19 that crews continued to search for Sands on June 17 and said efforts to find him would continue “in a limited capacity.”
The Mt. Baldy covered in snow is visible from Mt. Disappointment Road in the San Gabriel Mountains in Altadena, California in February 2021.Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file
Since he was first reported missing in January, there have been eight ground and air searches for Sands, with volunteers working more than 500 hours to find him, the department said. There were also eight unrelated search and rescue operations in the area of Mt. Baldy.
Mount Baldy, originally known as Mount 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 LA
Searches of the area indicated that Sands’ cell phone activity ceased on Jan. 13, and subsequent attempts to contact the device were unsuccessful, the sheriff’s department said.
Sands landed her first major role in an NBC miniseries, “The Sun Also Rises,” in 1984. She had her breakthrough performance in the 1985 film “A Room With a View,” Best Picture winning film of the year at the Academy Awards.
Other notable screen appearances include a role in the Oscar-winning film “The Killing Fields” as well as “Arachnophobia.” He had roles on TV’s “24” and “Smallville.”
Born in Yorkshire, England, Sands studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London before moving to Los Angeles. He was known to return to his native land occasionally to perform on stage.
In an interview with the British guardianpublished in 2020, Sands said his closest brush with death was during a climb in the Andes Mountains in the early 1990s, during which fellow climbers died amid bad weather and high altitude
When asked when he was happiest, the actor said, “Near a mountaintop on a cold, glorious morning.”
Sands was a resident of LA’s North Hollywood neighborhood, according to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department.
He leaves behind his wife and three grown children.
Andrew Blankstein contributed.
