Jim Varney
Photo credit: Jim DeVault. Photo courtesy of John Cherry Syndication, LLC.
James Albert Varney Jr. (June 15, 1949 – February 10, 2000) was a Kentucky-born actor, comedian and writer of astonishing range. To most of the world he was Ernest — but to anyone who watched closely, he was one of the most gifted character performers of his generation.
A classically-trained clown
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Varney fell in love with acting early and trained seriously in theater, with a deep love of Shakespeare and a near-photographic memory for scripts. He paid his dues in regional theater, stand-up comedy, and television before teaming with adman John Cherry to create the character that would make him famous.
More than Ernest
That range is right there in the photo above — Varney built an entire family of characters, switching between them with uncanny ease. Away from Ernest, he reached millions more:
- Jed Clampett in the feature film The Beverly Hillbillies (1993).
- The voice of Slinky Dog in Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999) — a role beloved by a whole new generation.
- Cookie in Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), his final performance.
Remembering Jim
Jim Varney died of lung cancer on February 10, 2000, at the age of 50. He left behind a body of work that still makes people laugh — and a character so warm and familiar that “Hey, Vern!” can still get a grin out of a total stranger. This site is a small thank-you for all of it.
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