Russell was then invited to Hollywood by Buddy DeSylva, co-founder of Capitol Records, to screen-test for motion pictures. He was contracted to appear in the film "The Stork Club" (1945). His movie career had an inauspicious start at Paramount Studios. The Mexican-American crooner was told by a security guard that it was a closed set and that he would have to leave. He waited outside the stage door, sitting in the sun until Hal Walker, the director, came looking for him and told him to get to work. Russell asked nervously, "Are you sure it's all right now?" In his motion picture debut, he played himself in everything but name, as he cast as a dance band singer and swing drummer. He sang "If I had a Dozen Hearts" in a duet with Betty Hutton and a solo on "Love Me". He also displayed his percussionist skills on a drum solo of "China Boy".