Cartoonist and comics artist Bruce Russell was born on August 4, 1903, in California. He studies art at the Southern branch of the University of California, working on the staff of the Cub Californian. Following graduation he was hired by the Los Angeles Times as a sports cartoonist in 1927, as well as AP Newsfeatures who commissioned a multi-panel strip for which Russell created "Rollo Rollingstone" (which he signed with "Bruce Barr"). In 1934, he became the lead cartoonist for the Times.

In 1946 Russell won the Pulizter Prize for Editorial Cartooning for "Time to Bridge that Gulch," which addressed the deepening divide between post-war America and Russia. 

Bruce Russell died of a heart attack on December 18, 1963, in Los Angeles, California. His work is held in the archives of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, the Syracuse University Libraries, and the UCLA Library.