R.I.P. Julian Sands, Room With A View actor

Six months after Julian Sands went missing while on a hike in California, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office declared Sands dead. He was 65

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  June 27, 2023 | 11:02pm
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R.I.P. Julian Sands, Room With A View actor
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Following a six-month search, Julian Sands, the prolific actor from Warlock and A Room With A View who went missing in January, has been declared dead. Per Deadline, in a statement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office, Sands’ remains were identified and confirmed, bringing the recovery operation to a close.

“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 office wrote. “The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results.”

Over the weekend, a group of hikers discovered Sands’ remains in the Mount Baldy area of the San Gabriel Mountains. The hikers’ discovery comes roughly a week after county rescue teams and volunteers restarted their search for the actor, who was first reported missing on January 13. Days before the remains were found, his family released a statement: “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.”

Born in Yorkshire, England, Sands was the middle child in a family of five sons and a single mother. With an early interest in performing, he attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London before making the BBC debut that led to Hollywood. With over 150 credits to his name, Sands enjoyed a forty-year career in the film business, beginning with what he called “the original B movie,” Oxford Blues, opposite Rob Lowe. Though he believed himself to have stumbled out the gate, Sands would quickly recover. His next job (albeit a “tiny” one, admitted Sands) was in the Oscar-nominated Roland Joffé film The Killing Field.

“The role was so tiny I’m surprised that people even remember me,” he said. “But they seem to, which is gratifying.”

The Killing Fields started a 10-year run of parts that saw Sands stretching his craft and surprising audiences. Joffé’s film, for instance, caught the eye of director James Ivory, who cast Sands as the lead in the sweeping romance A Room With A View. Sands stood out among the all-star cast, which included Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliot, Maggie Smith, Daniel-Day Lewis, Simon Callow, and Judi Dench.

Though Sands was pleased with the success of Ivory’s film, he continued to experiment with different and darker roles. He played Percy Shelly in Ken Russell’s surreal historical horror, Gothic, and later as the titular sorcerer in Warlock and its sequel Warlock: The Armageddon.

Sands gravitated toward challenging projects throughout the 90s. In 1991, he melded his interest in experimental characters with literary ones, starring in David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch. He also starred in Jennifer Lynch’s psychosexual thriller Boxing Helena and Mike Figgis’ Oscar-winner Leaving Las Vegas. By the end of the decade, he’d play one of the most iconic caped, masked men in fiction, The Phantom of the Opera, for Dario Argento’s adaptation.

He continued to work until his death, particularly on television. Sands’ television resume is an embarrassment of riches, with the actor appearing on some of the iconic and beloved shows of the last 20 years, including The L Word, Stargate SG-1, 24, Dexter, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Elementary. He also played Superman’s father, Jor-El, on Smallville.

Sands married twice. He had one son with his first wife, Sarah Harvey, to whom he was married from 1984 until 1987. In 1990, he married Evgenia Citkowitz, and the couple had two daughters.

 
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