Known for:	Toy Story, Toy Story 2, 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain
Birth name:	James Albert Varney Jr.
Birthday:	15 June 1949, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Height:	6' 1" (1.85 m)

Included in a 1986 home video collection of Ernest commercials is a public service spot with Ernest trying to convince "Vern" to quit smoking, thus avoiding "The Big 'C'-Cancer. Chemotherapy City." Was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer. Jim Varney died at about 4:45 am February 10, 2000 at his White House, Tennessee home. He died the same year that Daddy and Them were being released, and quite a while before Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released. Lived in Lexington, Kentucky while growing up, and graduated from Lafayette Senior High School with the class of 1968. He listed a former teacher, Thelma Beeler, as being one of the main contributing factors in his becoming an actor. His final movie, "Ernest the Pirate" (2000) had nearly completed shooting at the time of his death. For that reason, it got canceled, and was never released on VHS, DVD, or as part of an "Ernest" box set on anything. Known to fans as Ernest P. Worrell, his most famous character, who propelled him to the public eye. Ernest appeared in commercials "alongside" his off-camera friend Vern. Ernest would address the camera as if it was Vern. Despite his persona as Ernest P. Worrell, he reportedly had a near genius I.Q. level. He was said to be occasionally exasperated with fans who met him and assumed he was exactly like the Worrell character he portrayed. When he discovered he had lung cancer, he reportedly threw away his cigarettes and quit smoking cold turkey. Unfortunately, it was too late. He used to do commercials for the Dodge dealership in Henderson, Kentucky, sitting in the Dodge Viper "high in the sky." As his Ernest P. Worrell persona, he did advertisements for the Southern California auto mall Cerritos Auto Square. After his death, commercials now feature a CGI Ernest. As Ernest, Jim Varney used to do Purity Dairy commercials which ran in Nashville, TN. Among one of the companies he portrayed his beloved character, Earnest, was for the Kroger grocery store chain. These aired mainly in the marketing area of Tennessee, parts of Mississippi and Ohio where Kroger grocery store chains are predominate. Between 1987 and 1990, Disney released four Ernest movies that generated a total of $100 million. Five more Ernest films were released independently, mainly for the video and television markets. The character of Ernest was actually introduced in a commercial for Bowling Green, Kentucky's Beech Bend Raceway Park. Along with Robin Williams, Varney was one of Los Angeles' Comedy Store's original alumni. Standup comedy launched his TV career. His first national appearance came at age 25, when he embarked on the talk show circuit that included "The Merv Griffin Show" and "The Tonight Show." Studied Shakespeare at the Barter Theatre in Virginia and performed in a folk show during Opryland's first year of operation When given the chance to have a lifelong dream fulfilled by such groups as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, several hundred terminally ill children have asked to meet Ernest. He never let them down. Was very good friends with Robin Williams.

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