CAUSE OF DEATH: British actor, Julian Sands, found dead after human remains found in Californian mountain range are identified

British actor Julian Sands confirmed dead after human remains found in Californian mountain range are identified. 

Sixteen searches have been launched since January, during which time more than 500 hours have been spent looking for Sands, who was close friends with fellow actor John Malkovich. Malkovich described Sands as an “inveterate mountain climber/hiker” who was “was always tramping off to Kilimanjaro, or Antarctica, or the Andes, or the Alps”. He also climbed in Greenland and Asia.

On Friday, his family released its first statement since Sands’ disappearance. “We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer,” the statement said.

Walkers found the remains on Saturday, police said, and they have now been formally identified.

Sands, 65, was best known for his roles in the Oscar-winning film A Room With A View and TV dramas 24 and Smallville.

His other credits included 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which he appeared opposite Daniel Craig. Born in Otley, Yorkshire, and educated at Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, Sands started his acting career with roles in such films as the The Killing Fields.

That brought him to the attention of director James Ivory, who cast him, ahead of the likes of Rupert Everett, in the 1985 film adaptation of EM Forster’s novel A Room With A View.

Set in Edwardian-era England and Italy, the film centred around Helena Bonham Carter’s character Lucy Honeychurch and her ever-growing love for Sands’ free-spirited George Emerson.

The fresh search revealed no trace and the sheriff’s office said efforts would continue but “in a limited capacity”.

Sands is married to the journalist Evgenia Citkowitz and has three adult children. Within weeks of Sands going missing, his brother, Nick Sands, a financial adviser who lives and works in Gargrave, the North Yorkshire town where they grew up, said: “I know in my heart that he has gone. However, sibling rivalry being what it is, it would be just like him to walk out of there and prove me wrong.”