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Billy Gardell Ready To Take Dramatic Turn After "Mike & Molly" Finale

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The series finale of "Mike & Molly" aired tonight on CBS.

The show made a star out of Swissvale native Billy Gardell, but now that the show's over, he's decided to take a dramatic turn.

Gardell is currently filming the mini-series "Million Dollar Quartet," about the beginnings of the music industry's famous Sun Studios.

He's playing Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who was known for being a bit of a ruthless con man.

Gardell told the Uniontown Herald-Standard that the role is the exact next step he wanted to take.

He told them: "I wanted to look for a dramatic role because I think going for another sitcom, after you've been on a hit sitcom for six years, the audience kind of knows you as that person, and I think going to another sitcom is really a tough thing to do. And I think you can come back to that later, but I think you have to make a different kind of turn."

Gardell is still doing stand-up though.

In fact, this weekend you can catch him at the Monroeville Convention Center.

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