British actor Julian Sands, who was missing since January after he went hiking near Mount Baldy in California, has been confirmed dead. The police on Saturday found human remains in the mountains which were officially confirmed to be that of the 65-year-old actor.
San Bernardino county sheriff's department has been coordinating the search mission since the actor was reported missing on January 13. The air and ground search operations were initially hampered by poor weather conditions including deadly storms and a threat of avalanche, and the department launched renewed efforts with a team involving over 80 people, the Guardian reported. Police are yet to confirm cause of death.
Last week, the actor's family issued a statement thanking the Californian authorities and search teams for their efforts, and said they would continue to hold “Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer."
Sands, who made his acting breakthrough by essaying Jon Swain in the Oscar-winning 1984 film The Killing Fields, will best be remembered for his role in A Room With a View (1985). Later the actor played the role of Percy Shelly in the psychological horror Gothic before moving to Los Angeles. His prominent acting credits a list of movies like Warlock, Arachnophobia, Boxing Helena and The Medallion. His TV roles included a Russian terrorist in 24 in 2006, and Superman's biological father Jor-El in Smallville in 2009.
Sands, whose love for hiking is well known, once told the Guardian that he did not wish to be a Hollywood actor. “I was looking for something exotic, things that took me out of myself,” he had said.
