Nando Parrado
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Nando Parrado | |
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 Parrado (left) and Canessa with Chilean Huaso Sergio Catalan | |
| Born | Fernando Seler Parrado Dolgay 9 December 1949 Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | Veronique Van Wassenhove |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
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| Website | parrado |
Fernando "Nando" Seler Parrado Dolgay (born 9 December 1949) is one of the sixteen survivors, all of whom were Uruguayan, of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571; which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. After spending two months trapped in the mountains with the other crash survivors, he, along with Roberto Canessa, climbed through the Andes mountains over a 10-day period to find help. His efforts, supported in various ways by the entire group, have been recognized through books and other media. He was portrayed by Ethan Hawke in the 1993 feature film Alive and by Argentine actor Agustín Pardella in the 2023 Spanish feature film Society of the Snow.
Background
Early life
Parrado was born in Montevideo on December 9, 1949, the second of three children of Seler Parrado and Xenia "Eugenia" Dolgay, a Ukrainian immigrant who arrived in Uruguay at the age of 16.[1] Raised in the Carrasco barrio, he attended Stella Maris College, and played for its alumni rugby team, Old Christians.[2]
At the time of the Andes crash, he was a university student. In his 2006 book, Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, Parrado described his life in the days immediately prior to the Andes:
When it finally came time to choose a college, I decided to enroll in agricultural school, because that was where my closest friends were going. When my father heard the news, he shrugged and smiled. 'Nando,' he said, 'your friends' families own farms and ranches. We have hardware stores.' It was not hard for him to talk me into changing my mind. In the end, I did what made sense: I entered business school with no serious thought about what school would mean for me or where this decision might lead. I would graduate or I would not. I would run the hardware stores or maybe I wouldn't. My life would present itself to me when it was ready. In the meantime, I spent the summer being Nando; I played rugby, I chased girls with Panchito, I raced my little Renault along the beach roads at Punta del Este, I went to parties and I lay in the sun, I lived for the moment, drifting with the tide, waiting for my future to reveal itself, always happy to let others lead the way. (p.30-31)
Parrado also states in Miracle in the Andes that after he returned from the mountains, he gave up his studies. Still coping with the loss of his sister, Susy, and their mother, both victims of the same plane crash, Parrado drifted for a period of time. Initially, Parrado helped out in his father's business, though he was interested in the field of sports car racing and for many years developed a career as a professional race car driver. After his marriage, he gave up professional racing and took over his father's hardware business alongside his older sister and brother-in-law. He also developed additional businesses and became a television personality in Uruguay. In 2020 a racehorse named after Parrado won the Coventry Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting. Parrado has given his consent for the horse to be named after him.[3]
Conferences
In addition to his work in business and television, Parrado is a motivational speaker, using his experience in the Andes to help others cope with psychological trauma.
Miracle in the Andes
Parrado co-wrote the 2006 book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, with Vince Rause. The book references Piers Paul Read's account of the accident and aftermath, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, which was written two years after the rescue (and based upon interviews with the survivors). Miracle in the Andes, however, is told from Parrado's point of view 34 years later.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Alive: Miracle in The Andes | technical advisor | film |
| 1993 | Alive: 20 Years Later | himself | video documentary |
| 2002 | Return to the Andes | himself | video documentary short |
| 2006 | Alive: Back to the Andes | himself | TV documentary |
| 2007 | Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains | himself | documentary |
| 2009 | Independent Lens' (Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors) | himself | TV series documentary |
| 2010 | I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash | himself | documentary aired on History Channel |
See also
References
- ^ "Seré Curioso: Fernando Parrado". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 September 2023.
- ^ "reportaje". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
- ^ Cook, Chris (9 July 2020). "Talking Horses: crash hero 'thrilled' to have Ascot winner named after him". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
External links
| External audio | |
|---|---|
 Owen Bennett-Jones 2006 Interview with Owen Bennett-Jones on BBC The Interview |
- 1949 births
- Living people
- Uruguayan motivational speakers
- Rugby union players from Montevideo
- Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
- Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
- Uruguayan businesspeople
- Uruguayan Roman Catholics
- Uruguayan rugby union players
- Uruguayan people of Spanish descent
- Uruguayan autobiographers
- People educated at Stella Maris College (Montevideo)
- Uruguayan people of Ukrainian descent