Russell was born September 16, 1919 (Mexican Independence Day) as Andrés Rábago in Boyle Heights, which, at the time, was an ethnically integrated, middle-class neighborhood in Eastside Los Angeles. He was the second youngest of ten children (eight boys, two girls) born to Mexican immigrant parents, Rafael Rábago and Vicenta (née Pérez), who had emigrated to United States in 1902 from the Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua, where each had been born, respectively. His father was employed as an extra by Hollywood studios, while his mother was a housewife.