Jim Varney Movies and Career Information

James Albert "Jim" Varney, Jr. (June 15, 1949 – February 10, 2000) was an American actor, voice artist, and comedian, best known for his role as Ernest P. Worrell, who was used in numerous television commercial campaigns and movies in the following years, giving Varney fame nationally in the United States. Varney was born the fourth child and only son of Louise (née Howard; January 14, 1913 – August 22, 1994) and James Albert Varney, Sr. (January 1, 1910 – January 11, 1985), in Lexington, Kentucky, where he grew up. As a young child, Jim Varney displayed the ability to memorize long poems and significant portions of material from books, in which he used to entertain family and friends. (This proved to be a lifelong gift. While doing Ernest commercials, Varney sometimes did upwards of 25 different versions of a spot in a single day, able to memorize lines for each version instantaneously). When Varney was a boy, his mother used to put the black and white TV on cartoons for him to watch. His mother discovered that Varney quickly began to imitate the cartoon characters, so she got him into children’s theater when he was 8 years old. He began his interest in theater as a teenager,