British actor Julian Sands has been missing for five days in an 'extremely dangerous' Californian mountain range where two people have died in recent weeks, police in America have confirmed.
The star - who has appeared in Oscar-nominated films like A Room With A View - has been confirmed as one of the two missing hikers in the San Gabriel Mountains in California, as police urge fellow hikers to avoid the 'extremely dangerous' mountain.
The 65-year-old star of hit TV shows like Gotham, Elementary, Dexter and Smallville was last seen on Friday in the Mount Baldy area of the range and his family haven't been in contact with him since then.
On Thursday, rescuers found a car thought to belong to the missing actor, with video showing officials towing the silver Volvo away as the search continues.
It's been reported Julian's three adult have joined the ground search for their father, as friends of the missing star share their concern for him online on Thursday.
Authorities still have hope the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo actor will be found and Julian's friends and family are praying the star is safe - with one close friend describing him as "an adventurer in everything he did" on Wednesday.
"On Friday, January 13, at about 7:30 pm, a hiker, identified as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood was reported missing in the Baldy Bowl area," a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s department said, in a statement shared with the PA news agency in the early hours of Thursday morning.
"Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue crews responded and began a search. Because of avalanche risks and trail conditions, the ground crews were pulled off the mountain on Saturday evening.
"However, we continue to search by helicopter and drones when the weather permits."
The spokesperson added that additional ground searches would be scheduled when the weather improves and conditions were safer for rescue crews.
British filmmaker Cassian Elwes, a friend of the missing star, took to Twitter on Wednesday night to write: "I’ve known since Friday that my friend Julian Sands has been missing on mt baldy. I’m devastated. A very close family friend who was an adventurer in everything he did. I’ve said many prayers.
"Life is fleeting and precious"
Actor Jim Piddock replied: "It’s awful, Cassian. A wonderfully talented and unique man and a delightful, generous friend.
Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer shared Cassian's tweet with his own followers and added: "I am hoping against hope that this will turn out to be just another one of his adventures. I’m so sorry for his family and friends going through this."
"Hoping for a miracle."
On Thursday afternoon, Cassian tweeted once again: "The outpouring for Julian has been amazing. Keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming for his safe return."
Samuel West told his Twitter followers: "Please, please let Julian Sands be okay. A friend and an inspiration. Awful news."
The search for Julian comes as the sheriff's department recommends people follow weather warnings and avoid the area, where high winds and ice have made for treacherous conditions.
As well as the 1985 hit film A Room With A View, Julian is known for his roles in Leaving Las Vegas, Arachnophobia and The Armageddon. He has also featured on TV shows such as 24, The L Word and many more hit series.
He played the role of Superman's biological father Jor-El, on Smallville and reprised the role in the series' tenth and final season in 2011.
Julian also enjoyed a cameo on Dexter in 2013, playing Miles Castner, a wealthy international businessman, during the eighth season of the award-winning series.
Recent TV credits include parts on Batman-inspired series Gotham, NBC crime thriller The Blacklist and the contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, Elementary.
Julian's biggest film credits, in addition to his turn in Oscar-nominated A Room With A View, include gracing the screen alongside Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Ocean's Thirteen, playing a young Henrik Vanger in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and The Survivalist with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Malkovich in 2021.
The film and TV star became a father for the first time during his marriage to Sarah Harvey, a British journalist, when they welcomed a son into the world before splitting in 1987. He went on to have two more children, daughters, with his now-wife Evgenia Citkowitz, who he married in 1990.
"I didn’t want to become a Hollywood actor," Julian told the Guardian in 2018.
"I was looking for something exotic, things that took me out of myself," he added when discussing his varied films projects. "I think I found myself a little boring."
During the candid chat, Julian described mountain climbing as his second fixation in life, just behind making movies.
He recalled waking up early one day in 2015 and hiking the nearly 22-mile length of Sunset Boulevard from downtown Los Angeles to the beach.
"Just about at sunset, I touched the water and went in to have a beer," he grinned when telling the story to the publication in 2018.
In addition to the hunt for Julian, there is also an ongoing search for another missing hiker in the Crystal Lake area of the mountain range.
Bob Gregory of Hawthorne was reported missing on Monday and according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's San Dimas station, a search is well underway.
Family members told ABC 7 they are distraught and a worried Bob might has hurt himself or fallen. Police are said to be trying to track his mobile phone to locate him.
The search teams had been out this week on the ground and in the air but attempts on Wednesday were limited due to the icy conditions on the tough terrain.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department had commented on Instagram to warn people against hiking the Mount Baldy area due to the harsh winter weather making for "dangerous conditions".
In the last four weeks, the department has been called out to 14 different rescue missions on the mountain and surrounding areas.
The Sheriff's department confirmed the majority of such calls were to search for "lost, stranded and/or injured hikers".
They added: "Unfortunately, during these past four weeks, two hikers did not survive after falling and injuring themselves.
"Please know the current conditions on Mt Baldy are adverse and extremely dangerous.
"Due to the high winds, the snow has turned to ice making hiking extremely dangerous."
