Julian Sands is Dead
Julian Sands, who turned 65 on January 4, has passed away. The British actor had been missing since January 13 when he went hiking on Mount Baldy, located in the San Gabriel Mountains area in southern California, about 80 kilometers from Los Angeles.
Biography
The actor, of British origin, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film “A Room with a View,” was an avid mountaineer and hiker.
He was reported missing on the evening of Friday, January 13, after going on a solo hike in the Baldy Bowl Wilderness Preserve in the San Gabriel Mountains. A search team was withdrawn after 24 hours due to avalanche risk and poor trail conditions.
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Sands described himself as happiest when “close to a summit on a glorious cold morning.”
He also recalled a brush with death during a climb in the Andes in the early ’90s when he was caught in a storm above 6,000 meters with three other climbers. “We were all in a bad situation,” he said. “Some guys near us died. We were lucky.”
Born in England, the third of five children and educated at Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, Sands began his career with supporting roles in films like “Oxford Blues,” playing the romantic rival of protagonist Rob Lowe, and “The Killing Fields,” portraying a young war correspondent in Cambodia.
Sands moved to California in the 1980s after the success of “A Room with a View,” an Edwardian period romance in which he was cast as the lead alongside Helena Bonham Carter. Based on E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel of the same name, set in England and Italy, the 1985 film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture.
Talent for Horror
Sands had a knack for the horror genre, having also played the role of a son of Satan in the supernatural thriller “Warlock” (1989) and its sequel “Warlock: The Armageddon.”
He portrayed a spider expert in the 1990 thriller “Arachnophobia,” a twisted and obsessed surgeon in “Boxing Helena” (1993), and the lead role in the 1998 cinematic adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
He also appeared in over two dozen television series, including “Smallville” as Superman’s biological father, Jor-El. In recent years, Sands found success in stage performances where he recited poetry by Harold Pinter, John Keats, and Percy Shelley, the latter of whom he portrayed in the 1986 psychological thriller “Gothic.”
Jodie Foster accompanied him to the Academy Awards in 1989, the night she won her first Oscar for Best Actress for “The Accused.” The two starred together in the little-seen 1987 independent film “Siesta.” Sands had a son with his first wife, journalist Sarah Harvey.
Julian Sands is Dead
