American writer and producer Michael Rhodes has lost his battle with cancer, aged 74.

SANTA MONICA, Calf., Feb. 10, 2000 -- "Hey Vern," roll the credits. Jim Varney, the big-nosed, gawky actor who brought empty-headed hayseed pitch-man Ernest P. Worrell to life in a series of popular, albeit arguably annoying TV commercials and then in a skein of kids' movies, died today of lung cancer. He was 50. Varney, an actor since his teen years, had been in the public eye for more than 25 years. He was a stand-up comic in New York in the early 1970s, and became a regular on the TV variet