James Albert Varney, Jr. was born on 15 June 1949, in Lexington, Kentucky USA, and was a writer, comedian, and actor best known for his character Ernest P. Worrell, used for movies and commercials. He’s also known to have been the voice of Slinky Dog in the first two “Toy Story” movies. His various efforts helped raise his net worth to where it was before his passing in 2000.
How rich was Jim Varney? As of mid-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $12 million, mostly earned through his numerous opportunities as an actor. Aside from commercials, film, and television, he was also popular in the theatre. He also did voice-acting work, and all of these helped increase his wealth.
Jim Varney Net Worth $12 Million
At a young age, Jim’s mother noticed how he could easily memorize parts of a book and start re-enacting the cartoon characters he watched on television. This soon led him to an opportunity in theatre and he won numerous competitions while attending Lafayette High School. At the age of 17, Varney was already performing at various venues, and later on, he’d become an actor in numerous theatre productions such as “Blithe Spirit”, “Fire on the Mountain”, and “Boeing 707”, a solid start to his net worth.
Varney rose to prominence as the character Ernest Worrell during a commercial that advertised the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in 1980. His character was suddenly used by various companies and products such as milk and other dairy products. This led to him creating other characters such as Sgt. Glory, who was a drill instructor also used for commercials.
More opportunities appeared including commercials for gas, convenience stores, and car dealerships. This also led to more television shows for him such as “Pop! Goes the Country” alongside Tom T. Hall. Later on, Jim would create another character named Auntie Nelda, and would then reprise Ernest in various films, the result of the character’s popularity, including “Ernest Saves Christmas”, “Ernest Scared Stupid”, “Ernest Rides Again”, “Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam”, and “Ernest Goes to Africa”.
His commercials continued with clients such as Leadco and later Blake’s Lotaburger. Aside from films, his character Ernest also had a television series entitled “Hey Vern, It’s Ernest”, and the film “Ernest Goes camping” became a huge success. The various Ernest movies were compiled and made into VHS and DVD releases, considerably adding to his net worth.
Aside from his popularity as the character, Varney also had other shows and movies in which he portrayed other characters. These can be seen in “Johnny Cash and Friends”, “Fernwood 2 Night”, “Operation Petticoat” and “Pink Lady and Jeff”. He also became well known for portraying Jed Clampett in “The Beverly Hillbillies”. Jim continued doing movies and later would get voice opportunities in “Toy Story”, “Toy Story 2” and “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”. He even had an episode voicing for “The Simpsons”, and tried his hand at independent movies.
For his personal life, Jim was firstly married to Jacqueline Drew from 1977 to 1983, and then to Jane Varney from 1988 to 1991. During the filming of “Treehouse Hostage” in 1998, it was discovered that he had lung cancer because of his smoking habit. He quit smoking and later supported anti-smoking campaigns, and underwent chemotherapy, but it wasn’t successful and he died in February 2000. His final film “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”, was dedicated to him.
