Movies
Trailers
TV
DVD
News
Celebs
Fan Sites
MyHollywood
Get Movie Showtimes & Tickets
Select a Movie or Search All Theaters
A Jihad for Love (NR)
A Man Named Pearl (G)
American Teen (PG-13)
Back to Normandy (NR)
Before I Forget (NR)
Boy A (R)
Brideshead Revisited (PG-13)
Bustin' Down the Door (NR)
Canary (NR)
CSNY: Deja Vu (R)
Dark Knight, The (PG-13)
Days and Clouds (NR)
Doorman, The (NR)
Eight Miles High (NR)
Elegy (R)
Elsa and Fred (PG)
Encounters at the End of the World (G)
Finding Amanda (R)
Fly Me to the Moon (G)
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (R)
Hamlet 2 (R)
Hancock (PG-13)
Holding Trevor (R)
In Search of a Midnight Kiss (NR)
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (NR)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (PG)
Kabluey (PG-13)
Kenny (PG-13)
Kismat Konnection (NR)
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (G)
Last Mistress, The (NR)
Lou Reed's Berlin (PG-13)
Love Story 2050 (NR)
Mad Detective (NR)
Mamma Mia! (PG-13)
Man on Wire (PG-13)
Meet Dave (PG)
Mehbooba (NR)
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The (PG-13)
My Father My Lord (NR)
No Regret (R)
Order of Myths, The (NR)
Passing Poston (NR)
Pineapple Express (R)
Ripple Effect (R)
Rocker, The (PG-13)
Save Me (NR)
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The (PG-13)
Sixty Six (PG-13)
Space Chimps (G)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PG)
Step Brothers (R)
Stone Angel, The (R)
Swing Vote (PG-13)
Take (R)
Tell No One (NR)
Transsiberian (R)
Tropic Thunder (R)
Trumbo (PG-13)
Wackness, The (R)
WALL-E (G)
Wanted (R)
We Are Together: The Children of Agape Choir (PG)
Wonderful Town (NR)
X-Files: I Want To Believe, The (PG-13)
XXY (NR)
Go
Go
Search
News
Fan Sites
Apply
Directory
Support
MyHollywood
Sign In
Sign Up
Forums
Newsletter
Hot List
Hollywood.com's 2008 Summer Movie Preview
That Other Blog: Same Crap. Different Smell
Hollywood.com games! No registration, no downloads
Home
News
Farewell, 'Ernest'
Farewell, 'Ernest'
By
Steve Ryfle
|
Thursday, February 10, 2000
|
Comments (0)
SANTA MONICA
- "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 variety series "Johnny Cash and Friends" in 1976. He also was a regular on "Fernwood 2-Night," "Operation Petticoat" and other late 1970s TV comedy shows. His (literally) in-your-face TV ads, with his nose pressed against the camera and his incessant "Hey Vern" sales spiels, began airing in 1980.
But it was
Varney
's "Ernest" movies, with their innocent brand of slapstick, goofball comedy, that endeared him to kids. The movies always featured a story in which Ernest, the idiot savant, helps a group of children out of some problem or predicament. The first of these films was "
Ernest Goes to Camp
" (1987), followed by "
Ernest Saves Christmas
," "
Ernest Scared Stupid
," "
Ernest Rides Again
," "
Ernest Goes to School
," "
Slam Dunk Ernest
," "
Ernest In the Army
" and others. Some were released theatrically, while others were of the straight-to-video variety.
Varney
also did a lot of non-"Ernest" stuff, including "
Wilder Napalm
" (1993) with
Dennis Quaid
and
Debra Winger
. In that same year, he played Jed Clampett in the big-screen version of "
The Beverly Hillbillies
."
Most recently, he played the voice of Slinky Dog in "
Toy Story 2
" (reprising the role from the original "
Toy Story
"). He also had roles in two yet-unreleased movies due out later this year.
|
Comments (0)
Bookmark this news story with:
News Archive
----- Choose a Month -----
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
More News
▪
News, Nov. 16: Trimspa Defends Anna Nicole Smith, David Lee Roth Training as Paramedic, Polanski Wants To Sue Magazine From Abroad, More...
▪
The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Winners
▪
Things They Said at the 62nd Annual Golden Globes
▪
News, Nov. 4: Pop Star Couple Nick and Jessica Happily Married, They Say; Hollywood Studios Crack Down on Bootleggers; Jeopardy Champ Won Top Prize; More...
▪
David Copperfield's Pregnancy Trick
