Room With a View actor Julian Sands found dead at 65 after going missing on hike
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Julian Sands, the English actor who rose to prominence as the romantic lead of the 1985 drama A Room With a View and went on to appear in such films and TV series as Leaving Las Vegas, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and 24, has died at 65.
Authorities confirmed Tuesday that Sands' remains had been identified more than five months after he went missing on a hike in the Southern California mountains.
"The identification process for the body located on Mt. Baldy on June 24, 2023, has been completed and was positively identified as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood," the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department said in a statement. "The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results."
The statement added, "We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands."
Kurt Krieger/Corbis/Getty Julian Sands
An avid hiker and mountaineer, Sands was reported missing on the evening of Jan. 13. Search-and-rescue teams were deployed, but ground teams were forced to pull back due to severe weather conditions and the risk of avalanche. The search continued from the air, via helicopter and drone.
This past weekend, hikers discovered Sands' remains on Mt. Baldy, a popular hiking and skiing destination in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Sarah Jackson, Sands' manager, said in a statement to EW, "Julian was a great friend and client. He chose interesting projects that mattered to him and was adored by everyone who worked with him. He was a passionate climber, and we draw consolation from knowing that he passed in a place he loved, doing what he loved. We are filled with the most beautiful memories."
Julian Sands was born Jan. 4, 1958, in Otley, West Yorkshire. He first earned attention as an actor opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1983 miniseries A Married Man and in NBC's 1984 adaptation of The Sun Also Rises. Roles in Privates on Parade and The Killing Fields followed, and Sands gained further notice in A Room With a View (opposite Helena Bonham Carter) and Ken Russell's avant-garde horror film Gothic.
He eventually moved to Hollywood and appeared in such films as Warlock, Arachnophobia, Naked Lunch, Boxing Helena, The Medallion, and Ocean's Thirteen.
In recent years, audiences might have recognized Sands from his television roles, including Superman's biological father on Smallville, terrorist Vladimir Bierko on 24, businessman Miles Castner on Dexter, and biology professor Gerald Crane on Gotham.
Other TV credits included Stargate SG-1, Castle, Ghost Whisperer, Person of Interest, The Blacklist, Elementary, and What/If.
Sands also occasionally worked on the stage, including a celebrated turn in a 2011 production of A Celebration of Harold Pinter directed by John Malkovich.
In a 2020 interview, Sands reflected on his love of the outdoors. "Climbing mountains, a lot of time people who don't climb mountains assume is about this great heroic sprint for the summit," he said. "And somehow this great ego-driven ambition. But actually it's the reverse. It's about supplication and sacrifice and humility, when you go to these mountains."
He added, "It's not so much a celebration of oneself but the eradication of one's self consciousness. And so on these walks you lose yourself, you become a vessel of energy in harmony hopefully with your environment."
Sands' survivors include his wife, Evgenia Citkowitz, whom he wed in 1990, their two daughters, and a son from a previous marriage to British journalist Sarah Harvey.
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