Julian Sands

Julian Richard Morley Sands^[1] was born in Otley on 4 January 1958.^[2] He was the son of Conservative Party councillor Brenda (née Leach) and soil analyst William Sands.^[3] Brenda Sands was a leading figure in the local amateur dramatic society.^[4] Sands was educated at Lord Wandsworth College in Long Sutton, Hampshire and at London's Central School of Speech and Drama.^[5]

Sands appeared in small roles in Oxford Blues (1984) and The Killing Fields (1984).^[6][7][8] He also had a cameo as a Greek soldier in the BBC adaptation of The Box of Delights in 1984.^[9] Sands appeared in After Darkness in 1985.^[10]

Sands played the romantic lead role of George Emerson in the 1985 film A Room with a View.^[11] This role became his breakout role.^[10] Following the success of A Room with a View and Ken Russell's Gothic (1986), Sands abandoned the lead role he had signed on to play in Maurice and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in American films.^[12]

Sands played the title role in the horror film Warlock (1989) and its sequel Warlock: The Armageddon (1993), the role of Franz Liszt in Impromptu (1991), and the role of Yves Cloquet in Naked Lunch (1991). He also played prominent roles in Arachnophobia (1990), Boxing Helena (1993), Tale of a Vampire (1992), and Leaving Las Vegas (1995).^[12][13] Sands played the lead role of Erik in the 1998 horror-film version of The Phantom of the Opera.^[14] He played Laurence Olivier in BBC Four's In Praise of Hardcore (2005), a drama about the critic and impresario Kenneth Tynan.^[15]

In television work, he voiced Valmont in seasons 1 and 2 of Jackie Chan Adventures, before being replaced by Andrew Ableson and Greg Ellis in the remaining seasons. He played the Doci of the Ori in two episodes of the ninth season of Stargate SG-1 (a role he reprised in the film, Stargate: the Ark of Truth). He played a college professor in a Season One episode of The L Word. In 2002, he starred in Stephen King's Rose Red^[16] and the Austrian ambassador Klemens von Metternich in the miniseries Napoléon.^[17] In the 2006 season of 24, he played terrorist Vladimir Bierko.^[13]

Sands played Jor-El, Superman's father, in the ninth season of Smallville, and reprised the role in the series' final (tenth) season.^[18] In 2009, he played Reg Hunt in Bollywood Hero.^[19] In 2012, he played Alistair Wesley in the seventh episode of the second season of Person of Interest.^[20][21]

In August 2011, he appeared onstage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in A Celebration of Harold Pinter, directed by John Malkovich at the Pleasance Courtyard.^[22][23] The play transferred to the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York.^[24] His performance in the play was nominated for "Outstanding Solo Performance" for the 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards (2013).^[25][26]

In 2011, Sands appeared in the mystery thriller film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an English-language remake of the original version, as the younger Henrik Vanger.^[27] In 2012, Sands voiced the character of DeFalco in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.^[28] In 2013, Sands appeared as Miles Castner, a wealthy international businessman, during the eighth season of Dexter.^[29]

Sands was married to Sarah Harvey, a British journalist and author, from 1984 until 1987. The couple had one son.^[30] On 22 September 1990, Sands married Evgenia Citkowitz – an American playwright, author, and journalist who is the daughter of Polish-American composer Israel Citkowitz and Lady Caroline Blackwood – after being introduced by John Malkovich, a friend of Sands.^[31][32] The couple had two daughters.^[33] Sands was fiercely protective of his family and rarely spoke about his wife or children in interviews.^[34]

Sands and his family lived in Los Angeles in the United States from 1990 until his death.^[35]

On 13 January 2023, Sands, a dedicated mountaineer, went hiking at Mount San Antonio, California in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. He was reported missing later that evening.^[36][37] An initial search for Sands was hampered by severe storms that occurred shortly after he went missing. His car was located on 18 January. The following day, it was reported that Sands's three adult children had joined the ground search for their father. His son Henry, along with an experienced climber, retraced the route his father was believed to have taken.^[38] Sands was believed to be traversing the Baldy Bowl Trail, "which climbs 3,900 feet (1,200 m) over 4.5 miles (7.2 km) to the highest summit in the San Gabriel Mountains".^[39] Reports state there was "evidence of avalanches" in the region.^[40] On the 11th day after Sands went missing, the Sands family released a statement praising "the heroic search teams" and their efforts "on the ground and in the air to bring Julian home".^[41]

The SBSD stated on 19 June that two days earlier, more than 80 search and rescue volunteers had descended into remote areas across Mount Baldy to search for Sands. The SBSD added that since January, there had been eight official search missions to find Sands; more than 500 volunteer search hours were spent on those search missions.^[42] On 23 June, the Sands family released a statement saying, "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."^[43]

Sands' body was found by hikers on 24 June.^[44][1][45] On 24 July, the cause of death was listed as "undetermined" due to "the condition of the body ... [which is] common when dealing with cases of this type."^[46]

• List of solved missing person cases (2020s)
• List of unsolved deaths