Human Remains Discovered in Search for Missing Gotham Actor Julian Sands

By Nicole Drum

Human remains have been discovered near the area where British character actor Julian Sands disappeared on Mount Baldy in California. According to Variety, authorities from the San Fernando Police Department confirmed the discovery of the unidentified remains late on Saturday. Sands went missing during a hike in the area in January.

"At about 10:00 a.m., civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff's Station after they discovered human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness. Fontana Station deputies, along with the Sheriff's Department's Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene," the San Fernando Police Department statement read. "The decedent was transported to the Coroner's Office, pending positive identification. Identification should be completed next week."

Sands, an experienced hiker, was reported missing on January 13th of this year and had been hiking in the Baldy Bowl hiking area around 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The search for the actor had only just resumed earlier this month after having been hindered for five months due to extreme weather conditions over the winter.

When the search resumed last week, Sands' family shared a statement thanking the search teams and coordinators for their continued efforts.

"We are deeply grateful to the search teams and coordinators who have worked tirelessly to find Julian," they said.

"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 on January 4, 1958, in Otley, West Yorkshire, Sands became an actor in the 1980s with projects like Oxford Blues and the Killing Fields. He then landed the starring role alongside Helena Bonham Carter in 1985's A Room with a View, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards. 

Upon that film's success, Sands moved to Hollywood, portraying the titular role in the 1989 film Warlock. His other projects in the decades that followed included Naked Lunch, Leaving Las Vegas, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Medallion.

In recent years, Sands has portrayed Jor-El in two episodes of Smallville, and Dr. Gerald Crane in two episodes of Gotham. He has also appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Elementary, and Netflix's What/If.

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"I was very honored to play Jor-El, because he'd only been played before, I think, by Marlon Brando. I liked Smallville," Sands explained in a 2019 interview with Decider. "I found it very touching. I mean, it's a domestic story about people growing up. Again, I didn't seek to play Jor-El, I was just asked if I would play him, but it was a great privilege and a very dignified TV piece, I thought. As an actor, people quite often do ask you, "What do you want to play?" But I really have no idea. [Laughs.] I respond to other people's ideas about who I should play."

Our thoughts are with Sands' family, friends, and fans at this time.

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