Bad weather hinders search for Yorkshire-born actor Julian Sands still missing in Californian mountains

Mr Sands, born in Otley and raised in Gargrave, is best known for his breakout role as the free-spirited George in the period drama A Room With A View, opposite Helena Bonham Carter, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.

The father-of-three was reported missing last Friday with search and rescue teams scouring the San Gabriel mountains with helicopters and drones.

Authorities have now said there is still "no hard deadline" for calling off the search, though snow, sleet and fog continued to hinder operations on foot.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the incident was still being classified as a search and rescue operation.

As of yesterday evening visibility at high altitudes in the Mount Baldy area remained poor, with searches planned to continue when conditions permitted.

“We will schedule another ground search when the weather improves, and it is safe for our ground crews,” a spokesperson from the department said. They added that there was “no hard deadline” for abandoning search efforts and “no date set”.

Sands’ family yesterday towed his car from a car park where it was discovered during the search.

Mount Baldy residents noted the “extreme” conditions but said they would not “rule anything out” in the mission to find Sands.

“Conditions can be extreme and even as a resident we don’t hike this time of year…it’s sketchy, it can be very dangerous,” Stephanie Coyne said.

“In prior years other people have gone missing and (people) get injured every year.”

Ms Coyne, who works at the Mount Baldy ski resort, said the adverse weather conditions were “typical” for the time of year.

“People have been found, it can happen. I wouldn’t rule anything out – the whole situation is just unfortunate,” she said.

Sands was reported missing in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel mountains the evening of January 13.

Ms Coyne added there had been other instances of hikers suffering “falls” in the same area in past weeks.

Jaqueline Miller-Weaver, another resident, who works at the Mount Baldy sled shop, said: “It’s really rough…conditions are really bad.

“It’s really icy in some areas, even crampons wouldn’t help you,” she added.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department previously urged hikers to “think twice and heed warnings” following treacherous weather in the region, saying its search and rescue teams had responded to 14 calls on Mount Baldy and in the surrounding area over the last four weeks.

Actor Sands, known by friends for his adventurous spirit, featured in Leaving Las Vegas and Warlock, as well as appearing on television in 24, Smallville and Banshee. More recently he played the chief medical officer in the 2021 Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi-led drama Benediction.

He has lived in Los Angeles since 2020.

From 1984 to 1987 Sands was married to future Evening Standard and Today editor, Sarah Sands, with whom he shares a son, while he also has two daughters with journalist Evgenia Citkowitz, whom he married in 1990.