It’s sad to report that it has now been confirmed that the actor Julian Sands died during a hike on Mount Baldy earlier this year. The 65-year-old actor, an experienced and enthusiastic hiker and climber, was reported missing on January 13th after he failed to check-in while hiking the highest peak among the San Gabriel mountains. An extensive search-and-rescue mission was launched but could not find him. The search was eventually postponed due to seasonal bad weather which persisted for several months because of the altitude of the terrain, but then resumed earlier this month. A man’s body was found by hikers last week and after analysis it was confirmed to be the late actor.
Sands’ family had previously praised the search-and-rescue efforts and noted, as hope inevitably faded, that they simply hoped the efforts would ‘bring him home’. Though identification has been confirmed, it has not been released how or exactly when Sands died on the mountain.
Sands was a prolific television and movie actor. Notable entries included the role of George Emerson in the 1985 Academy Award-winning film A Room with a View in which he appeared opposite Helena Bonham-Carter, cult supernatural time-travel hit Warlock, Leaving Las Vegas, a 1998 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera and television series such as Stargate SG1.
“I guess I will grieve and celebrate in equal measure and for those of you who knew him you will understand the great loss of an extraordinary brother, husband, father, uncle and grandfather,” his brother Nick Sands said.
A resident of North Hollywood he leaves behind a wife, writer Evgenia Citkowitz, with whom he had two children and a son from his previous marriage to Sarah Sands, former editor of BBC Radio 4‘s Today.
