Bill Byrge Biography
Bill Byrge is an American character actor and comedian best known for his role as Bobby in several Ernest P. Worrell films.
Age
Bill was born on 16 July 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America. He is 91 years old as of July 2023.
Height
Bill stands at a height of 5′ 5″ (1.66 m).
Family
Bill was born in Campbell County, Tennessee, to Martha Bunch. Being born during the Great Depression meant having little food, and as a child, he was diagnosed with rickets due to a lack of a well-rounded diet. Byrge currently lives in Nashville; his brother, Charlie, and sister, Naomi, are both deceased. He does not drive because everything in downtown is within walking distance, and he believes that most Tennesseeans do not know how to drive.
Career
In 1986, Byrge began starring alongside longstanding co-star Gailard Sartain in a series of “Me and My Brother Bobby” ads developed by Nashville advertising firm Carden and Cherry, which was also responsible for the Ernest P. Worrell commercials with Jim Varney. The basic premise was that Sartain and Byrge were “twin brothers who didn’t look anything alike,” and the schtick was that loud-mouth Chuck (Sartain) would endorse a certain product, and in some cases, would muddle something in the process, while his quiet and collected twin brother Bobby (Byrge) would mostly agree with whatever Chuck’s sentiments were with a simple, yet enthusiastic nod.
Later in 1988, the actors reprised their roles in their own recurring sketches on the Saturday morning children’s show Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!, where, depending on the episode’s specific theme, the brothers would usually get involved with whatever situation Ernest was involved in, such as a bake sale or a talent show. Later, the characters appeared in a number of the theatrical Ernest films, working odd jobs such as airline cargo attendants in Ernest Saves Christmas and security guards in Ernest Goes to Jail; it is also revealed in the Ernest films that Chuck and Bobby are Ernest’s next-door neighbors. Afterwards, Sartain was absent from the following Ernest films.
Byrge has done little acting since the Ernest franchise’s demise; however, in later years, he did reprise his role as Bobby for an independent DVD movie titled Billy and Bobby the Whacky Duo On Vacation, alongside Billy Dee (who is also the webmaster of the official Ernest/Jim Varney fansite). In the film, friends Billy and Bobby go on a road trip, but first Billy has teach Bobby how to drive (reflecting Byrge’s real-life lack of driving skills); Bobby also has a lot of dialogue in the movie. Byrge has also worked on a number of music videos and theater shows in his hometown of Nashville.
Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of 5 million dollars.