Julian Sands: British actor's body identified after long search on mountain

Human remains found in mountains in California have been confirmed to be those of British actor Julian Sands, who went missing on a hike in January.

Walkers found the remains on Saturday, police said, and they have now been formally identified.

Sands, 65, was best known for his roles in the Oscar-winning film A Room With A View and TV dramas 24 and Smallville.

His other credits included 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which he appeared opposite Daniel Craig.

Sands disappeared on 13 January during bad weather in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Air and ground searches were hampered as California was battered by deadly storms, as well as icy conditions and a threat of avalanches.

Following fresh searches earlier this month, police said some parts of the area with steep terrain and ravines were still inaccessible due to "extreme alpine conditions" including more than 10ft (3m) of remaining ice and snow.

At the end of January, brother Nick Sands, who lives in North Yorkshire, where he, Julian and their three other brothers grew up, said he had already said his "goodbyes".

"I have come to terms with the fact he's gone and for me that's how I've dealt with it," he said.

Born in Otley, Yorkshire, and educated at Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, Sands started his acting career with roles in such films as the The Killing Fields.

That brought him to the attention of director James Ivory, who cast him, ahead of the likes of Rupert Everett, in the 1985 film adaptation of EM Forster's novel A Room With A View.

Set in Edwardian-era England and Italy, the film centred around Helena Bonham Carter's character Lucy Honeychurch and her ever-growing love for Sands' free-spirited George Emerson.

The film, which also featured Dame Maggie Smith, Daniel Day-Lewis and Dame Judi Dench, was a box office hit and won Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe awards. The British Film Institute has named it one of its top 100 British films.

Later, Sands played the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in Ken Russell's psychological thriller Gothic, before moving to Hollywood.

He played the title role in the 1989 horror film Warlock and its sequel, and his other big screen credits included prominent parts in Arachnophobia, Boxing Helena and Leaving Las Vegas, as well as starring opposite Jackie Chan in the action-comedy film The Medallion in 2003.

His TV roles included a Russian terrorist in Kiefer Sutherland's TV drama 24 in 2006, and Superman's biological father Jor-El in Smallville in 2009.

Friend and fellow actor John Malkovich introduced Sands to his wife, the writer Evgenia Citkowitz. The couple, who had two children, lived in North Hollywood.

Sands was previously married to Sarah Sands, former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, with whom he also had a son.