Russell attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He went to work as an advertising copywriter in New York; for a time, his roommate there was Sidney Sheldon the future novelist. He turned to writing material for vaudeville acts, and then for film studios, ultimately writing complete scores for two movies: "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Reach for Glory". The latter film received the Locarno International Film Festival prize in 1962. A number of other movies featured compositions by Russell, including "Affair in Trinidad" (1952), "Blue Gardenia" (1953), "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956), "The Girl Most Likely" (1957), "A Matter of WHO", "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd" (1952), "Sound Off" (1952), "That Midnight Kiss" (1949), and "A Ticket to Tomahawk" (1950). In the movies "The Girl Most Likely, Blue Gardenia" and "Matter of Who" (1961), Russell's compositions included the title songs.