A search is underway in southern California for Julian Sands, the British-born actor who was reported missing last Friday while hiking in the Mt. Baldy area.
The 65-year-old Sands has appeared in more than 150 films and TV shows over his career, including such films as A Room with a View, Arachnophobia, The Killing Fields, and Leaving Las Vegas. Sands made his film debut as a sailor in the 1982 film Privates on Parade. He recently starred in the horror film The Ghosts of Monday and the soon-to-be-released Double Soul, a thriller in which he co-stars with F. Murray Abraham. The actor also appeared in The Survivalist, a direct-to-video released in 2021
.
On Thursday, it was reported that a search party located what is believed to be Sands’s automobile near one of the hiking trails in the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernardino County. The search and rescue crews had earlier suspended their efforts due to severe weather conditions and a threat of avalanches. They are also using drones in the search for the missing actor, says the local sheriff’s department, which recently warned hikers about dangerous wind and ice conditions on Mt.
Baldy.
Two hikers have died on the mountain in the past four weeks, and local authorities have responded to 14 rescue missions on the mountain and nearby areas.
According to the sheriff’s office, “The recent storms that brought the snow and ice conditions are not favorable for hikers, even those that feel they have a high level of experience.”
Search crews have been joined by Sands’s son Henry and the actor’s other adult children. Their search is concentrated on the popular Baldy Bowl Trail, which rises some 3,900 feet over 4.5 miles to the highest summit in the mountain chain. In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, the actor was quoted as saying he was at his happiest when “close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning.”