Authorities have officially confirmed that Julian Sands, best known for his starring role in the Academy Award-winning romantic drama A Room With a View, has died at the age of 65. The actor had been missing since January after he was last seen hiking in Mt. Baldy, the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains in California. Remains that had been found by hikers near the area were positively identified as belonging to Sands as confirmed by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Coroner Department.
“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 Sheriff’s Department shared on Tuesday. “The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results. We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands.” An avid hiker, Sands had begun traveling the Baldy Trail area shortly after his 65th birthday only to be reported missing by his family on January 13. The search for Sands was no easy feat due to winter storms hitting the area around the time he went missing, hindering efforts to search on the ground. Conditions around Mt. Baldy had taken especially long to clear even after the weather warmed.
Sands’s career kicked off the 1980s, first garnering attention from Hollywood after starring in the NBC miniseries The Sun Also Rises before going on to join Sam Waterston and John Malkovich in the Academy Award-winning drama The Killing Fields. He’d be a regular presence in Hollywood throughout the 80s and 90s, starring in David Cronenberg‘s Naked Lunch and taking on the titular roles of both the horror action fantasy Warlock and the 1998 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Other high-profile roles in his resume include classics like Leaving Las Vegas and Ocean’s Thirteen as well as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
A Room With a View Proved Was the Perfect Role for Sands
A Room With a View, however, gave Sands a role that was practically made for him. In the film directed by James Ivory based on E. M. Forster‘s novel of the same name, he played George Emerson, the free-spirited developing love interest of Helena Bonham Carter‘s Lucy Honeychurch who herself is in the midst of a struggle regarding the restrictive values of Edwardian England. The film truly defined Sands as a star, also sharing the screen with a young Daniel Day-Lewis who played Lucy’s wealthy and snobbish fiancée, Cecil Vyse. The film would go on to be nominated for Best Picture among other things and ultimately score a win for Ruth Prawer Jhahvala for the screenplay she adapted from Forster’s novel as well as wins for costume and set design.
Love for Sands has been pouring out since news broke, including from Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert who directed the actor in Siesta with Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne. She took to Twitter, writing, “Before Harry Styles wore pearls, Julian Sands wore them in Siesta. It was his idea. We all thought it shocking but fabulous. Dear Julian. We miss you.”
Our condolences go out to Sands’s family and friends.
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