THE FAMILY OF Julian Sands have towed his car from a car park where it was discovered during a search to find the British actor who went missing after a hiking trip in southern California.

The 65-year-old was reported missing in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel mountains in southern California on 13 January.

The car was discovered yesterday and searches by local authorities continuing by “helicopter and drones when weather permits”.

It was located in a car park and it is believed Sand left the car here before setting out on his hike.

Authorities added that there is still “no hard deadline” for calling off the search for the British actor.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the incident was still being classified as a search and rescue operation, though snow, sleet and fog continued to hinder operations on foot.

As of Thursday 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 told the PA news agency.

The spokesperson added that there was “no hard deadline” for abandoning search efforts and “no date set”.

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 told PA on Mount Baldy.

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

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 13 January, with searches by local authorities continuing by “helicopter and drones when weather permits”.

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, told PA: “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.

Yorkshire-born Sands is known for his breakout role as the free-spirited George in the period drama A Room With A View, in which he starred opposite Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

He also 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.