British Actor Julian Sands Reported Missing in California Mountains

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "The Painted Bird" in competition - Venice, Italy September 3, 2019 - Actor Julian Sands poses before an interview. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "The Painted Bird" in competition - Venice, Italy September 3, 2019 - Actor Julian Sands poses before an interview. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
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British Actor Julian Sands Reported Missing in California Mountains

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "The Painted Bird" in competition - Venice, Italy September 3, 2019 - Actor Julian Sands poses before an interview. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "The Painted Bird" in competition - Venice, Italy September 3, 2019 - Actor Julian Sands poses before an interview. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

British-born film actor Julian Sands, known for his starring roles in such films as "A Room with a View" and "Warlock," has gone missing in the mountains of Southern California, media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing local authorities.

The 65-year-old performer was reported missing by his wife on Friday evening, Jan. 13, after he had gone hiking in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains, according to Los Angeles television station KABC-TV and the Hollywood trade publication Variety.

"From what I understand, he left sometime that day for a hike and when he did not return, his family reported him missing," KABC-TV quoted Gloria Huerta, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department, as telling the news outlet.

Ground teams immediately launched a search for the actor but the effort was called off about 24 hours later due to avalanche risks and poor trail conditions, according to Variety, which also cited the sheriff's department.

Intermittent aerial searches by helicopter and drone aircraft have continued, however, and authorities planned to resume a ground search once conditions allow, Reuters quoted Variety as saying.

The Baldy Bowl, about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles just below the Mount Baldy ski area, is a popular destination for skiers, climbers and hikers.

But the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department issued an advisory on Thursday warning that severe winter weather, following weeks of storms that dumped torrential rain and heavy snow across California, has made the area dangerous for outdoor recreation.

Over the past four weeks, the sheriff's search teams have been dispatched on 14 rescue missions on Mount Baldy and surrounding areas for lost or stranded hikers, two of whom perished after falling or injuring themselves, the advisory said.



Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)

A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit that actor and director Justin Baldoni filed against his "It Ends With Us" costar Blake Lively after she sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.

US District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic film.

Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.

The New York judge ruled that Baldoni can’t sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her legal claim, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.

The judge, however, said Baldoni could revise the lawsuit if he wanted to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached or interfered with a contract. His legal team indicated it planned to do so.

"Ms. Lively and her team’s predictable declaration of victory is false," one of Baldoni's lawyers, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement. He said that Lively's claims that she was sexually harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear campaign intended to taint her reputation, were "no truer today than they were yesterday."

"It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.

The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.

"Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.

The lawyers said they "look forward to the next round" of seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said they were "grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting."

"Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism," Charlie Stadtlander said in an emailed statement.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the TV series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including "The Town" and "The Shallows."

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy "Jane the Virgin," directed the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" and wrote the book "Man Enough."