He made hearts swoon as the debonair George Emerson in the beloved 1985 adaptation of A Room With A View.
And Julian Sands has also been chasing thrills off-screen for decades with the keen outdoorsman regularly scaling dangerous peaks in daring mountaineering feats.
But now, the 65-year-old is in peril after disappearing six days ago while attempting to climb Mount Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains of California, one of the most treacherous climbs in the US.
A desperate search has been launched for the acclaimed actor with drones and helicopters scouring the icy peaks where two hikers have also died in recent weeks, but so far only his car has turned up.
Julian Sands is pictured alongside his second wife Evgenia Citkowitz at a film gala in Los Angeles in 2015
Friends across the TV and film industry are praying for the safe return of the star, who has courted danger throughout his life, from nearly dying on the Andes, to conducting an entire interview from a mountain ridge.
Sands was born in 1958 in Yorkshire, northern England, to mother Brenda who raised him and his four brothers alone following her divorce.
He was privately educated at Lord Wandsworth College, a boarding school in the Hampshire countryside, before making the leap into acting.
The star initially landed minor roles, starring alongside Anthony Hopkins in the 1983 TV film A Married Man, and appearing in Privates on Parade, about a military entertainment group in Malaysia in the late 1940s.
His first major production was 1984’s The Killing Fields, the acclaimed historical drama about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Sands starred as journalist Jon Swain in the triple-Oscar winning film.
His first major production was 1984’s The Killing Fields, the acclaimed historical drama about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (pictured alongside John Malkovich)
Sands And Helena Bonham carter during filming for the award-winning 1985 romantic film A Room With A View
Sands pictured alongside Denholm Elliott during filming for the popular movie, which received universal acclaim
Sands pictured with co-star Helena Bonham Carter on the set of A Room With A View
Sands is pictured second from right in the 1986 Ken Russell psychological thriller Gothic
But it was his turn the following year in the adaptation of the classic E.M. Forster novel A Room With A View that propelled Sands to stardom.
Portraying the philosophical and free-thinking George Emerson, he falls in love with Helena Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch at a Florentine pensione in the classic period drama.
The pair locked lips in a poppyfield in what is considered one of the most romantic on-screen kisses of all time.
But Bonham Carter later revealed the moment was improvised because they had failed to find cornflowers for the scene.
She recalled: ‘Because of the sunset we’d been waiting for days, I think, if I remember, to try and get this kiss, it had to be on the magic moment, whatever that means. And suddenly it was like, “Okay, you’re on, just do the kiss. Julian, you stand there; Helena, just walk!”
‘It’s very hard to walk across a plowed field in high heels, and, oh God, it was hard work. I just knew I had to get to him without falling down.
‘And then not laugh when he kissed me. And it’s really hard to kiss someone when you’re only eighteen and you haven’t done it that many times, too. So it was hard, that was hard.’
The three-time Oscar winning production featured a slew of British acting greats including Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Simon Callow and Denholm Elliott.
But Sands’ dashing looks and striking features as the male lead landed him more major roles, often in horror films.
He appeared in Steven Spielberg’s Arachnophobia and played the title role in the acclaimed devilish supernatural film Warlock and its sequel Warlock: The Armageddon.
Other projects he has starred in include Leaving Las Vegas, Ocean’s 13, the English-language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the British wrestling romp Walk Like A Panther.
The actor also made appearances on the small screen, popping up in 24, Smallville, Stargate SG1, Elementary and the L Word.
Away from the camera, Sands has had two marriages and three children.
He went on to star in Steven Spielberg’s Arachnophobia in 1990 (pictured)
Sands stars alongside Hugh Grant as Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin respectively in the 1990 film Impromptu
Other projects he has starred in include Leaving Las Vegas (pictured alongside Elizabeth Shue)
He shares two daughters, Natalya and Imogen, with the journalist Evgenia Citkowitz, whom he married in 1990.
He also has a son, Henry, with his first wife Sarah Sands, the former editor of the British newspapers the Sunday Telegraph and London’s Evening Standard, and BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
His youngest brother, a drama teacher named Quentin, was selected by She magazine as ‘Britain’s Sexiest Man’ of 1998.
One of his students was on work experience at the magazine at the time and decided to submit his photo to the competition as the ‘epitome of masculinity’.
Sands is also a keen adventurer and outdoorsman, and even had a brush with dead on the Andes in the early 1990s.
Sands is also a keen adventurer and outdoorsman, pictured in 1994’s The Great Elephant Escape
Officers attempted a ground search for Julian Sands (pictured with his wife Evgenia Citkowitz) on Saturday for the star but had to abandon it as a storm swept in. It has not bee safe enough to restart the search since
He previously recalled: ‘I was in the Andes, caught in an atrocious storm above 20,000ft with three others. We were all in a very bad way. Some guys close to us perished; we were lucky.’
Sands has often spoken about his love of nature and his ‘wonderful outdoor lifestyle’, and has traveled around the world carrying out daring climbs.
He previously told Thrive Global his expeditions during Covid lockdowns were about ‘supplication and sacrifice and humility’.
He added: ‘It’s not so much a celebration of oneself but the eradication of one’s self consciousness. And so on these walks you lose yourself, you become a vessel of energy in harmony hopefully with your environment.
‘I mean, two days ago, I was just an old guy begging people for water at a trail head in the Santa Monica mountains. Who cares if you’re a film person, I was just someone very grateful for the kindness of strangers.’
He once even conducted an entire interview from the face of the Mittellegi Ridge on the Eiger Mountain in the Swiss Alps.
Many in the TV and film industry have been praying for the star’s safe return.
Actor Samuel West, who starred with Sands in 2004’s Sword of Xanten, tweeted this morning: ‘Please, please let Julian Sands be OK. A friend and an inspiration. Awful news.’
Actor Jim Piddock called Sands a ‘wonderfully talented and unique man and a delightful, generous friend’ and said he is ‘hoping for a miracle’.
Film producer Cassian Elwes, brother of Robin Hood star Cary and a family friend of Sands, said: ‘I’ve known since Friday that my friend Julian Sands has been missing on mt baldy.
‘I’m devastated. A very close family friend who was an adventurer in everything he did. I’ve said many prayers.’
Screenwriter Brian Lynch, whose credits include Secret Life of Pets and Minions, added: ‘Oh no! I love Julian Sands! I hope he is found ASAP.’
American actress and dancer Melanie Kinnaman also wrote: ‘Our friend Julian Sands has been missing from a hiking trip in the mountains of Southern California for nearly one week.
‘There is an active search for him in the Mt Baldy area. Please send prayers for his safe return.’
