Julian Sands missing – latest news: California authorities continue search for British actor

Julian Sands, the British star of films such as A Room With a View and Arachnophobia, has been identified as the hiker who has been missing in a California mountain range since last week.

Sands, who has also appeared in the film The Killing Fields and the TV series 24, has been missing in the Mount Baldy area since Friday 13 January, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The actor, 65, was thought to have been somewhere on the popular Baldy Bowl Trail, which climbs 3,900 feet over 4.5 miles to the highest summit in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Search and rescue crews looking for Sands had to suspend the search over the weekend because of severe weather and avalanche threat, a department spokesperson told CNN.

When it’s been too unsafe for people on the mountain, authorities have continued to used drones.

California has been hit by a series of violent winter storms that have brought flooding and major snowfall in the past few weeks.

The sheriff’s department said that it has launched 14 search and rescue missions in the Mount Baldy area alone in the past month, with two hikers dying on the mountain.

Sands, who lives in north Hollywood and has appeared in more than 150 movies and television shows during his career, most recently appeared in the horror film The Ghosts of Monday.

Among his forthcoming releases is a thriller called Double Soul co-starring F Murray Abraham.

Many have been posting well wishes for Sand on social media

07:46 , Ellie Harrison

British film producer Cassian Elwes said he was “devastated” and was praying for Sands.

“A very close family friend who was an adventurer in everything he did,” he wrote on Twitter.

Actor Jim Piddock called Sands a “wonderfully talented and unique man and a delightful, generous friend” and added he was “hoping for a miracle”.

Fellow actor Melanie Kinnaman wrote: “Our friend Julian Sands has been missing from a hiking trip in the mountains of Southern California for nearly one week... Please send prayers for his safe return.”