Jim Varney, the rubber-necked comic who parlayed his character “Ernest” into hundreds of television commercials and a series of films, died Thursday of lung cancer at his home in White House, Tenn., about 20 miles north of Nashville. He was 50.
Varney became a cult figure in the 1980s in a series of regional commercials, portraying Ernest P. Worrell, a know-it-all good ol’ boy whose best-known phrase was “Know-what-I-mean?” and who addressed an unseen character known as “Vern.”
He appeared in a number of films, including “The Beverly Hillbillies” in which he played Jed Clampett.
In the commercials, he got his fingers slammed in a house window, fell off a ladder and got electrically shocked fooling with a broken TV set. He plugged a variety of sponsors, including dairy products, car dealerships, pizza sellers and radio stations.
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“Ernest is a neighbor or relative that we’ve all had at one time,” Varney once said. “He’s abrasive, but he doesn’t mean to be. He gets excited and ends up standing on your toes. I try to make him clownish and I don’t want him too low-key; and he’s physically funny.”
“It’s been my biggest sounding board. I’ve grown to know him well.”
Between 1987 and 1990, he was in four “Ernest” movies for Disney. Five more Ernest films were released independently, mainly for the video and television markets.
Varney also was the voice of Slinky Dog in “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.”
In addition to “Hillbillies,” Varney’s film credits included “Ernest Goes to Camp,” “Ernest Rides Again,” “Ernest Saves Christmas,” “Ernest Goes to Jail,” “Ernest Scared Stupid,” “Ernest Goes to School,” “100 Proof,” and “Treehouse Hostage.”
TV credits included “Hey Vern, It’s Ernest,” “Roseanne,” “The Simpsons,” “The Rousters,” “Alice,” “Operation Petticoat,” “Fernwood 2-Night” and “Pop Goes the Country.”
Ernest usually was dressed in a baseball cap, T-shirt, blue denim vest and blue jeans. He had a generous nose. He was hapless and harmless.
Born and reared in Lexington, Ky., Varney began acting in local theater by the age of 8. At 16 he was playing Shakespeare in a professional theater, though he didn’t tell his teachers. He sought his acting fortune in New York at 18 and slogged through Off Broadway, dinner theaters and comedy clubs.
Varney received the cancer diagnosis in August 1998, and within months it had spread to his brain. For awhile, the cancer appeared to be in remission late last year.
Despite his illness, last year he filmed the movie “Daddy and Them” starring Billy Bob Thornton.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
