Alas it's true. This was the last intallment in the long running Ernest movie series. Jim Varney was actually filming a tenth Ernest movie called Ernest The Pirate which was due out in 2001. Sadly he passed away just as the film was nearing completion so we will never get to see what would have been his true last movie. Varney died of lung cancer on Feb 10th, 2000 at around 4:45 am. I remember getting choked up about it when I found out...in 2006. I thought that things had been awfly quiet on the Ernest front lately. I liked Jim Varney and had never been so upset over the death of an actor before. Geez, a redneck pirate, whod've thunk it. Oh well, I'll say it anyway: Aaarrgghh!, knowwutimean? James Varney Jr. 1949-2000, rest in peace old buddy. Rest in peace.