Julian Sands missing: Search fails to find actor 5 months after disappearance near Los Angeles mountain

Yorkshire-born actor Julian Sands remains missing five months after his disappearance.

British actor Julian Sands remains missing despite an extensive search undertaken over the weekend following his disappearance on a mountain near Los Angeles five months ago. Sands, the 65-year-old star of films including A Room with A View, was reported missing on January 13 after going hiking on the treacherous Mount Baldy.

In a latest update, the San Bernardino county sheriff’s department said a ground search was launched on Saturday (June 18) involving 80 search and rescue workers as well as two helicopters and drone crews, The Times reported.

According to police, aviation sources dropped search teams into remote locations across Mount Baldy, while drones examined places inaccessible from the ground. The sheriff’s department said no evidence of Sands was discovered since areas of the mountain remained inaccessible due to severe rain and storms over the winter.

Rescuers have now conducted eight searches, both on the ground and from the air, for Sands, with volunteers having searched for more than 500 hours. Officials said Sands’ missing person case remained active and search efforts would “continue in a limited capacity.”

Sands, a skilled hiker and mountaineer who was born in Yorkshire before relocating to north Hollywood, has completed challenging climbs all around the world. He was caught in an Andean storm at 20,000 feet in elevation at the beginning of the 1990s, and he nearly died.

At 10,000 feet, Mount Baldy’s peak sits almost two miles in the air, high enough to trigger altitude sickness.  On clear days, the mountain cuts a striking figure: a snow-capped peak just a 40-mile drive from a glittering metropolis.

When Sands went missing, police classified the mountain’s conditions as "extremely dangerous." Heavy snow and rain, as well as the possibility of avalanches, impeded early search and rescue efforts.