Actor Julian Sands confirmed dead, months after disappearance

British-born actor Julian Sands, best known for his role in the Oscar-celebrated film "A Room with a View," was confirmed dead five months after he went missing while hiking in Southern California. He was 65.

Mostly skeletal human remains discovered by hikers on June 25, in the vicinity where Sands had vanished, were positively identified by the San Bernardino County coroner as belonging to the actor, the county sheriff's department said.

The manner of his death remained under investigation, awaiting further test results, the department said in a statement.

Sands, an avid outdoorsman and mountaineer, was reported missing on January 13, after he had gone hiking alone earlier in the day in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 80 km northeast of Los Angeles.

The large, slopping area below the crest of Mount Baldy is a popular destination for skiers, climbers and backpackers. But authorities warned then that heavy snow from weeks of winter storms had made the area treacherous for outdoor recreation. Overnight temperatures were dipping into minus 4 Celsius that week.

A search party organised at the time was pulled out 24 hours later due to avalanche risks and poor trail conditions. Several subsequent searches came up empty-handed, including a major sweep conducted days before Sands' remains were ultimately found in the Mount Baldy wilderness area, according to the sheriff's department.

Cellphone signals detected on Sunday, January 15, had showed Sands headed toward the ridge of Mount Baldy, apparently the last indication he was still on the move, the sheriff's department reported then.

A statement from Sands' family posted by the sheriff's department on June 21, after the agency's latest search but before his remains were found, thanked search teams for their efforts and sounded a note of resignation about his fate.

"We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, love of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer," the statement said.

Sands, in a 2020 interview with the Guardian newspaper, described himself as happiest when he was "close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning." He also recalled a brush with death during a climb in the Andes in the early 1990s when he became caught in a storm above 6,000 meters with three others.

He is survived by his second wife, Evgenia Citkowitz, a journalist, with whom he had two daughters. He also had a son by his first wife, journalist Sarah Harvey.