With the success of the Ernest TV commercials, Varney moved the character to features with "Ernest Goes to Camp" (1987), the first in a series of amiably stupid features (i.e., "Ernest Saves Christmas" 1988; "Ernest Goes to School" 1994; "Ernest in the Army" 1998). He received his highest profile film role as Jed Clampett, a newly rich "poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed", in the hit comedy "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1993), based on the fondly remembered 1960s TV sitcom. Varney also entertained children of all ages by providing the vocals for Slinky Dog in the computer animated "Toy Story" (1995) and its sequel "Toy Story 2" (1999). During the promotional tour for the latter, questions over the actor's radical change of appearance led to his disclosing a year-long battle with lung cancer. In September 1998, Varney under went surgery to remove most of his right lung followed by aggressive radiation therapy.