1949 - James Albert Varney, Jr. or Jim Varney, born on the 15th of June in Lexington, Kentucky, where he grew up.
1964 - At age 15 he played Ebeneezer Scrooge in a local children's theater production of "A Christmas Carol".
1966 - By 17 years old, he was performing professionally in nightclubs and coffee houses.
1986 - Graduated at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky.
1987 - He worked in TV and film for more than a decade before his famous alter-ego hit the big screen in Ernest Goes to Camp.
2000 - He died of lung cancer on the 10th of February at 4:45 a.m. at a Nashville area hospital as the movie Ernest the Pirate neared completion and when Atlantis: The Lost Empire was still in production.