NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A 4th grade teacher appears on-screen, spiking the camera. Behind her stands a male child in a very specific wearable combination writing sentences on the chalkboard. "He never knew when to quit," she deadpans, as the boy backside her begins running his nails down the board. She smacks him upside the caput.

A running gag throughout Ernest Scared Stupid (1991) sees the titular character never knowing when to requite upward. Though used for comedic consequence in the moving-picture show, the same words described the man behind Ernest P. Worrell – Jim Varney.

The Lexington, Kentucky native loved acting from an early on age. Through his own ambition, Varney took that love of performing and kept pushing for more than. His determination turned a grapheme created for commercials into a movie star. His bulldoze made a khaki hat and denim vest an iconic combination. And his heart and personality made him a dear effigy for a whole generation of fans.

Jim Varney circa 1976
Jim Varney circa 1976

"At that place's such a depth to his performance," said David Pagano.

Pagano, along with Varney'south nephew, Justin Lloyd, is part of a team working on The Importance of Beingness Ernest, a documentary on the life of Jim Varney.

"Information technology's weird to think, for as goofy as a grapheme every bit Ernest is, those movies have depth, and they take replay value," Pagano, the documentary's managing director said. "There is – a humanity, and a warmth, and a sincerity to the mode that Jim plays Ernest. And I remember that'due south sort of why there is kind of like a timeless aspect to [the movies]."

Finding 'Glory'

In the early 1970s, Varney was performing at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, Kentucky. He would travel to Tennessee on tours for productions, similar an original musical called Fire on the Mountain. At one bespeak, Varney was working for the recently opened Opryland in Nashville when his and so-girlfriend had an audition for the Carden & Cherry-red Advertisement Agency.

"He was merely basically accompanying her to the audition," said Varney's nephew, Justin Lloyd. "[Carden & Cherry-red] idea he had an interesting expect and they asked him to try out for the Sergeant Celebrity role, and he got the part."

Years before Ernest, Varney got a taste for playing pitchman as the Sgt. Glory character for Purity Dairies in Nashville.

The origin of Ernest P. Worrell:
While there are a few different stories about how the name and grapheme came to be, Lloyd said the origin of Ernest can be traced back to a man that worked with John Cherry'due south begetter – a real "know-it-all" blazon. Equally for the name, Cherry liked Worrell because when you said it, Pagano described, it sounded similar y'all had marbles in your rima oris, "giving this sort of bad-mannered graphic symbol, an awkward-sounding proper noun.

What does the P represent?
Thanks to a segment in an Ernest Fan Gild newsletter, the P. in the official Ernest canon stands for…Power Tools. To add some other layer to that, Pagano believes it is written as two words which TECHNICALLY makes his proper name Ernest P. T. Worrell. "Trying to find consistency in the Ernest universe is sometimes a fool's errand," Pagano joked.

A career begins in 'Ernest'

Varney's relationship with Carden & Cherry would prove to be a fruitful one. In 1980, the agency was asked to develop a series of ads for Beech Bend Park in Bowling Light-green, Kentucky. The problem at the time, Lloyd recalled, was the park needed major renovations.

"John Cherry, and [Thom Ferrell] collection up to the park, and they could see 'we tin't shoot the park…nosotros're gonna take to have a spokesman just talk about the park.' – I call up the thinking was, they'd shoot at John Cherry's home, or somewhere."

Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell,
Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell, from the official Ernest photoshoots. (Photograph credit: Jim DeVault. Photo courtesy of John Cherry Syndication, LLC.)

At the same time, Varney had just returned to Kentucky. "Considering [Carden & Carmine] had worked with Jim previously, and Jim had only come back from California to work," recalled Lloyd. "He was the only person they even considered."

Varney would find himself at the center of a new series of spots. Unlike the tough-every bit-nails, humorless drill instructor Sgt. Glory, Varney had a take a chance to explore a new character. "I don't even know if they had named the character at that time or anything. Information technology was only the spokesman to talk up the park," said Lloyd.

Though the character didn't have all the traits that Ernest would one 24-hour interval be known for, no denim belong, no khaki hat – just a cap with Beech Bend on it – the spokesman was the genesis for the future Ernest P. Worrell. Varney shot a handful of commercials, not knowing that he but stumbled upon the character that would define his career.

About a year after shooting the spots, Purity Dairies began coming together with Carden & Cherry to develop a new series of ads. The agency played some of Varney'south Beech Bend ads for the Nashville make since they worked with him on the Glory campaign. "They idea [the graphic symbol] could appeal to the kids and then forth," said Lloyd. "That's really where Ernest started."

Equally the Purity ads took off, Varney went from a local pitchman to a franchise, appearing in spots for nearly a dozen different dairy companies in the bridge of a year. The Ernest character and so started appearing in commercials for nutrient marts and more.

"What's crazy to me," recalled Lloyd, "the leap from dairy to food mart is a pretty natural i. Just and then when you lot showtime going into, especially the news stations…that was the real leap, but information technology worked."

Over the course of near two decades, Ernest would announced in more than 2,000 commercials across the country. Pagano bankrupt down a listing of some the team has come up across working on Varney'south documentary. Ernest P. Worrell appeared in commercials for car dealerships, financial firms, diamond stores, television stations (similar KDFW in Dallas, Texas), gas companies, West Virginia'southward lottery, Montana Power, Sprite, Purina Dog Food, Keystone beer, and the Atlanta Braves to name a few.

"Know what I mean, Vern?"
Ernest would often speak with someone off-camera he referred to as 'Vern'. "It started off with Varney saying, Vernon similar in some of the very starting time ads and so it but got shortened to Vern," said Lloyd. "Then I idea it kinda spoke to the character how somebody yous don't know is calling you a nickname. He was calling him Vern like they were buddies, I don't know if that was the intent like I'm gonna call you lot a nickname like buddies, like don't call me a nickname, like don't telephone call me Vern, my proper name is Vernon, Right?" joked Lloyd.
Pagano said information technology all adds to the, "forced familiarity that Ernest, as a nosy neighbor, puts beyond."

Ernest Goes to the Movies

By 1985, the Ernest character had expanded his footprint nationally with four years of commercial appearances. That year, Varney attended the Indianapolis 500 after a company he had shot ads for asked him to represent them at the Indy 500 Festival Parade. Ernest was a hitting with the crowd, fifty-fifty garnering more applause than the Thousand Marshal of that year's outcome – Mickey Mouse. The excitement over Ernest defenseless the attention of Disney'due south Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg who were both in attendance.

"[Eisner and Katzenberg] didn't know of Ernest, they didn't know who he was – 'maybe we demand to check this guy out,' and they were soon meeting up with John Ruddy," said Lloyd.

Varney signed a bargain with Disney to bring Ernest to the big screen in four feature films betwixt 1987 – 1991. The outset pic in the series, Ernest Goes to Camp (1987) saw Worrell salvage Kamp Kikakee from an evil mining company. Shot mainly at Montgomery State Park in Burns, Tennessee, the film gave Varney a chance to showcase his comedic talents and flesh out the motives and personality of the Ernest character. The motion picture was a striking, grossing more than half dozen times the estimated budget of $3.five million by the cease of its release.

Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell, on fix shooting a commercial circa 1986.

Varney'south adjacent pic, Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) would go on to be the highest-grossing Ernest motion-picture show, making just over $28 meg.

Varney would return to Tennessee to shoot the next ii Ernest films. Ernest Goes to Jail (1990) – shot around Nashville and in the Tennessee Country Prison – gave Varney a chance to portray a character exterior of Ernest, the film's villain, Mr. Nash. The evil doppelganger even became a popular topic of conversation 14 years after the moving picture'southward release, thanks to the podcast – How Did This Go Made.

Varney's final moving-picture show on the Disney bargain, Ernest Scared Stupid, came out the following twelvemonth. His four films with the company would get on to gross over $ninety million. Not a bad run for a graphic symbol that got his start a decade prior, selling dairy products.

Ernest Family Photo
Jim Varney as the various characters of the Ernest series, L-R: Coy, Bunny Jeanette, Woody, Ernest P. Worrell, Auntie Nelda, Astor Clement, Baby Ernest, Dr. Otto, Pop. (Photo credit: Jim DeVault. Photograph courtesy of John Cerise Syndication, LLC.)

Life exterior of Ernest

In 1993, Varney appeared as Jed Clampett in the big-screen accommodation of The Beverley Hillbillies. Simply his casting, Lloyd said didn't come up easy, "Penelope Spheeris, the director, had to fight for him to get that role. A lot of Hollywood merely saw him as Ernest."

Later a handful of projects, including a string of Ernest films: Ernest Rides Once more (1993), Ernest Goes to School (1994), and Slam Dunk Ernest (1995), Varney returned to Disney to voice Slinky Dog in Pixar's Toy Story (1995).

"I think he felt that the Ernest graphic symbol would sort of gradually fade away and he would start to take on sort of some more serious roles because it was already starting with Daddy and Them towards the end of his life," said Pagano.

Cancer Diagnosis

Varney continued to find new roles to tackle exterior of Ernest. Merely in 1998 he was diagnosed with lung cancer. "He was optimistic that he would beat this," said Lloyd. "He really didn't want anybody to actually know how sick he was."

Jim Varney and Justin Lloyd circa 1983. Photograph courtesy of the Varney Family Drove.

Varney had been smoking since he was a teen. Lloyd recalled seeing his uncle start coughing after fits of laughter, "I think, even as a kid, thinking that doesn't seem right. That he'southward young and he'southward coughing."

"He never knew when to quit…"

For nigh of his life, that line could exist associated with how Varney congenital his career. Unfortunately, it described his downfall equally well. "I felt similar he was kind of burning the candle at both ends," said Lloyd.

A few months earlier he passed, Lloyd and his sis went to visit Varney. They spent hours talking. "I think he kind of knew he was dying. He was – most telling me his life story in some regard."

One of Varney'southward terminal performances was reprising Slinky Dog in Toy Story ii. He attended the premiere in November 1999. Lloyd said it gave him a take a chance to accept a last hurrah in Hollywood, "he's sitting downwardly at the premiere with his managing director and leans over to him, and he says – yous know, information technology'due south been a great adventure."

Lloyd and his mother traveled to meet Varney at his home in White House, Tennessee the following February. They were with him the nighttime he passed away on February 10, 2000. Information technology was a sad moment for the family, but Lloyd found some joy knowing his uncle was able to do what he loved earlier he died. "I was happy that he was able to exercise things like the Toy Story premiere, simply months before he passed. He was kind of having this Hollywood ending to his life."

The Legacy of Ernest

June fifteen, 2021, would have been Varney'due south 72nd birthday. Though the comedian passed away two decades ago, his legacy lives on in the hearts of fans.

"I can't tell you how many people have reached out to u.s.a. and said, something to the effect of, Ernest was basically like a surrogate father or father effigy to me," said Pagano. "This character was like, a sort of paternal kind of presence."

Jim Varney outside William Shakespeare's childhood home in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
Photo courtesy of the Varney Family Collection.

While Ernest was a humorous character, Pagano said Varney brought so much more to him.

"No one is exactly like Ernest. He'southward got all these – disparate elements and some of them experience like they shouldn't work together, simply they practice somehow. It's very fascinating."

Varney brought a amuse to the grapheme that was all his own. He was a homo who loved Shakespeare and studied Vaudeville. A human who never met a stranger. There was benevolence to Ernest. A twang of southern charm, but never at the expense of the region Varney chosen abode. He was equal parts folksy and farcical – like Charlie Chaplin's Piffling Tramp, by way of Mark Twain.

"Jim played Ernest and so well that people believed Ernest was a real person," said Pagano.

Varney would go visit children'due south hospitals on his days off dressed equally the character. But even if he wasn't off, he would find e'er discover an excuse to visit kids. If the actor disappeared from set or an event he was supposed to be at, it was rubber to presume you'd find him at a nearby hospital cheering up children dressed like Ernest.

The Importance of Beingness Ernest:
The team backside the Ernest documentary has launched a Kickstarter entrada to raise funds for the feature-length documentary that volition explore the life of Jim Varney and the development of Ernest P. Worrell. To learn more about how you can help, click here.

Pagano described Ernest equally a character that, "occupied that space between child and grown-upwards."

The graphic symbol connected with younger viewers. He embodied the underdog. Kids could relate to his journey and the struggles Ernest faced. Varney's warmth and amuse created a character that yous could express mirth with just every bit much as you could laugh at for his goofy antics.

Varney himself was simply as dynamic, lighting up every room he walked in. "He was but such an original kind of person," Lloyd recalled.

Varney's story mirrors that of an Ernest motion picture. The underdog who succeeded, winning everyone over in the process. The commercial spokesperson for regional companies who would go along to win a Daytime Emmy Award, star in a nine-film franchise, and warm the hearts of fans a generation over.

So how did he do it? How did Jim Varney create such an endearing legacy? How did he turn the lovable loser, decked out in a khaki hat and denim belong into a comedic icon? In the words of Ernest P. Worrell'due south quaternary class teacher, "he never knew when to quit."

Thanks to David Pagano for contributing to this piece. Pagano is an accolade-winning filmmaker, animator, writer, and the founder of Paganomation, a New York-based production studio. In addition to his film and animation piece of work, David spent 5+ years as producer and co-host of Ernest Goes to Podcast, a comprehensive exploration of the Ernest P. Worrell graphic symbol.

Thanks to Justin Lloyd for contributing to the piece. He is Jim Varney's nephew and the author of "The Importance of Beingness Ernest: The Life of Player Jim Varney". In writing this biography, Justin took on the dual role of "Varney family genealogist" and "Ernest historian", developing an encyclopedic knowledge of his Uncle Jim and the characters he played.

To learn more about their documentary project and how yous can aid, click hither.