British actor Julian Sands missing in California mountains after hike

British-born film actor Julian Sands, known for his roles in A Room with a View and Warlock, has gone missing in the mountains of southern California, media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing local authorities.

The 65-year-old performer was reported missing by his wife on Friday evening, January 13th, after he had gone hiking in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains, according to Los Angeles television station KABC-TV and the Hollywood trade publication Variety.

“From what I understand, he left sometime that day for a hike and when he did not return, his family reported him missing,” KABC-TV quoted Gloria Huerta, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, as telling the news outlet.

Ground teams launched a search for the actor but the effort was called off about 24 hours later due to avalanche risks and poor trail conditions, according to Variety.

Intermittent aerial searches by helicopter and drone aircraft have continued, however, and authorities planned to resume a ground search once conditions allow, Variety said.

The Baldy Bowl, about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles just below the Mount Baldy ski area, is a popular destination for skiers, climbers and hikers.

But the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department issued an advisory on Thursday warning that severe winter weather, following weeks of storms that dumped torrential rain and heavy snow across California, has made the area dangerous for outdoor recreation.

Over the past four weeks, the sheriff's search teams have been dispatched on 14 rescue missions on Mount Baldy and surrounding areas for lost or stranded hikers, two of whom perished after falling or injuring themselves, the advisory said.

The sheriff’s department, which made no mention of the actor in its advisory, did not respond to a request for further information. Sands’ Los Angeles-based representative could not be reached for comment.

Born in England, Sands moved to California in the 1980s to pursue a Hollywood career after the success of the 1985 film A Room with a View, a period romance in which he was cast as the leading man opposite Helena Bonham Carter. The film, which won three Academy Awards, also starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Maggie Smith.

He also starred as the son of Satan in the 1989 supernatural thriller Warlock and its sequel Warlock: The Armageddon. Other film credits include supporting roles in The Killing Fields, Arachnophobia and Leaving Las Vegas. – Reuters