This is the information I have gathered from the
internet. I do hope it helps, for its all I could
find. If you want to know more information, email
Billy dee at DeeAOB@..., who is a very avid
Ernest fan. He also knows one of Ernest's close
friends: Myra Robbins, and may give you contact
information.

Birthday: June 15, 1949
Birth Place: Lexington, Kentucky
Birth Name: James Albert Varney, Jr in the guise of
Ernest P. Worrell (the "P" is for "Powertools)

Jim Varney began entertaining at a young age because
of his remarkable ability to memorize poems and entire
passages from books. He was the son of a physical
therapist and was raised with three older sisters.
His early ears were spent listening to The Shadow and
The Lone Ranger. Once the family installed the
neighborhood's second black-and-white television,
though, a funny thing happened. "My mother put on
cartoon shows during the day so that she could work,
and she found that I could mimic a lot of the
characters on television, so she got me into
children's theater when I was 8. I had a very loud
voice and a lot of control for a little kid." Even
as a child, he was quite an outdoorsman and became a
real history buff.

He won several state drama competitions as a student
at Lafayette High in Lexington, Kentucky. At 15, he
portrayed Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, and he was
performing Shakespeare by age 16.

Varney was offered an acting apprenticeship by the
prestigious Barter Theater, a nationally acclaimed
professional company whose former players included
Helen Hayes, the Barrymores and Gregory Peck. He
dropped out of high school a semester short of
graduation to perform Shakespeare there (though he did
later earn his G.E.D.)

At age 18 he left for New York City to seek fame and
fortune. But unlike most struggling actors, who are
forced to wait tables while waiting for their big
break, Varney always supported himself through acting.
"I was fortunate enough to come along in the great
days of dinner theater," he says. "There were hundreds
of dinner theaters in operation." So he spent time
performing stand-up comedy at clubs and playing a
variety of featured roles in dinner theater
productions.

In the early 1970s, he auditioned for a local
commercial and won the part of Sgt. Glory, a character
created by the Nashville-based Carden & Cherry
Advertising Agency. The series of commercials that
followed proved to be extraordinarily popular and ran
for almost five years in Tennessee. Varney continued
to pitch spots and work the comedy club circuit. Then
in 1980 he got another call from Carden & Cherry
Advertising. This time they wanted him for a new
character -- Ernest P. Worrell. The public's response
to this characterization was immediate and positive.
Before long, Ernest became a pitchman for everything
from dairy products, soft drinks and car dealerships.

Varney was hired as a comedy-ensemble member of the
1976 TV variety series The Johnny Cash Show. He went
on to play Evel Knievel-takeoff Virgil Sims in Norman
Lear's syndicated talk show spoofs Fernwood 2-Night
(1977) and America 2-Night (1978). He was also seen as
Seaman Broom on Operation Petticoat (1977), in another
ensemble play on the ill-fated Pink Lady (1980), as
host of the 1982-1983 season of the country-western
syndie Pop! Goes the Country, and as Evan Earp, a very
distant descendant of Wyatt, on The Rousters.

His move to L.A. floundered when the 1980 actor's
strike left him without work and he again headed home,
this time to drive a steel truck. It was a move that
would prove fortuitous as Varney filmed his first
"“Ernest P. Worrell” commercial for the Beach Bend
Bowling Alley. The Ernest commercials and their
distinctive "Hey Vern!" were an instant hit and soon
Varney was filming as many as 26 commercials in a day
for a variety of regional sponsors.

The popularity of Ernest led Varney to an in-character
appearance at the Indy 500's car parade. The parade
also featured Disney characters and when Disney studio
head Michael Eisner, who was in the audience, saw the
crowd reaction, he signed Varney to do a string of
movies.

Beginning with 1980s Ernest Goes to Camp, Varney made
nine Ernest movies, some as straight to video releases
when Disney finally tired of the franchise. He also
starred as “Jed Clampett” in the 1993 film The Beverly
Hillbillies and provided the voice of "Slinky Dog" in
Toy Story.

Like most comics, Varney has hidden his sadness and
troubles behind a mask of laughter. Jim suffered from
manic-depression (or bi-polar disease which I guess is
the politically correct term for it) all his life. As
much as he made others laugh, he had a lot of
heartaches. He believes his depression cost him his
seven-year marriage to his first wife, Jackie, whom he
wed in 1976. He remarried again in 1988 to Jane, but
divorced her in 1991. She remained his assistant and
close friend.

Jim Varney became a Christian in the late 70's. He
said he realized one day that he was never going to
get anywhere in life if he didn't accept Christ as his
savior and did a 180 degree turn. He drank a lot and
partied a lot (to be expected considering his
profession) before then, but he gave up alcohol
altogether about the same time or shortly after he got
saved. He loved the Lord, Jesus Christ. I think he
felt very unworthy, but I know he tried to live up to
the Lord in his heart.

He would never let himself be photographed with a
cigarette because he was afraid the "kids" would see
it, and think it was o.k. to smoke. He touched
hundreds of children through the "Make a Wish"
foundation, and almost NO ONE ever knew. He did not do
that for acclaim, he did it to bring some joy to the
children he touched...and in the last few years of his
life, one of his longings was to have a child of his
own.

Jim Varney's felt ill during the filming of Treehouse
Hostage. He went to the doctor who discovered a fist
sized tumor in his lungs. During surgery, it was
discovered that the tumor had grown a branch that had
pierced Varney's heart. But it wasn't long after that
the tumor was removed and Varney miraculously survived
the heart complication. But later that year, he
suffered a seizure, and it was discovered that the
cancer had spread to his brain. Fortunatly, it was
only on the surface of the brain, and after a
successful round of radiation, it was sent into
remission, but it cost him his hair and weakened his
eyesight and hearing.

Yes, Jim smoked heavily. Cigarettes, cigars and pipes.
He had quite a collection of pipes, and he loved
knives and guns. He used to go out in the fields
beyond the Pioneer Playhouse and do his target
practice with a 450 magnum. He was a master with guns,
knives and bows & arrows and loved them. He could tell
you the entire history of knives and war and all that
stuff.

Varney also has an Emmy Award for his television
series Hey Vern, It's Ernest! In 1992 the Tennessee
State Senate honored Varney for his outstanding
contributions to the State, particularly to children's
charities. In 1993, he played Jed Clampett in Fox'
production of The Beverly Hillbillies. Varney's idol,
judging from the framed pictures and figurines in his
den, is Charlie Chaplin, and his dream was to play a
role in Hamlet.

After finishing his role in Toy Story 2, and before
his completion of his lastest project: Ernest the
Pirate, the cancer returned. His final battle lasted
barely a couple of months and at the age of 50, on
February 10 2000, our beloved entertainer and
childhood hero passed away.

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