Actor Julian Sands confirmed dead at 65; died while hiking in California

June 27 (UPI) -- The San Bernadino Sheriff's Department confirmed Tuesday that Julian Sands died hiking at Mount Baldy in California. The actor went missing in January, and remains found Saturday were positively identified as Sands on Tuesday.

"Civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff's Station after they discovered human remains in the Mount Baldy wilderness. Fontana Station deputies, along with the Sheriff's Department's Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene," the sheriff's department said in a statement Saturday night.

Mount Baldy is less than 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

Since he was reported missing, eight ground and air searches were conducted for Sands, and volunteers spent more than 500 hours looking for him. Searches indicated Sands' cellphone activity ended by Jan. 13, the sheriff's department said.

Sands, 65, worked steadily since 1982 in film and television. His career encompassed acclaimed films like The Killing Fields and A Room with a View as well as horror and populist films like Warlock and Arachnophobia.

Warlock began a sequel in which Sands reprised his role as the medieval warlock in present day, though a third film saw Bruce Payne take over.

Sands frequently returned to horror, playing The Phantom in a 1998 Phantom of the Opera film and a ghost in the Stephen King miniseries Rose Red.

Sands had supporting roles in Leaving Las Vegas as Elisabeth Shue's pimp and in the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as the young iteration of the client, Henrik Vanger.

Some of Sands' films were even more avant-garde. In Boxing Helena, he played an obsessed stalker who amputated his love object's (Sherilyn Fenn) arms and legs. The film by Jennifer Lynch was notable for suing Kim Basinger for backing out of starring.

Sands also appeared in David Cronenberg's William S. Burroughs adaptation Naked Lunch.

Television saw Sands play Superman's Kryptonian father, Jor-El, on Smallville and the terrorist Vladimir Bierko on 24. Additional TV roles include episodes of Dexter, Castle, The L Word, Law & Order: SVU and Criminal Intent, Banshee, Ghost Whisperer, Gotham and the comedy NTSF: SD: SUV.

Recent work includes the Netflix series What/If and the horror film Death Rider in the House of Vampires for director Glenn Danzig. Sands completed several films still pending release.