Early years Mitchell was born in
St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised in
Rock Hill. He attended high school in
Webster Groves in suburban St. Louis, and went on to graduate from the
University of Missouri with a
Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1982.
Career Russ Mitchell's first television job came while he was still in high school, working as a part-time switchboard operator at
KTVI in his native St. Louis. After graduation from Mizzou, Mitchell worked as a reporter with Kansas City television station
KMBC. Mitchell was later an anchor for
WFAA Dallas (1983–1985), reporter at
KTVI St. Louis (1985–1987), and a weekend anchor and reporter for
KMOV St. Louis (1987–92). He joined
CBS News in 1992 as co-anchor of
Up to the Minute. He was a correspondent for
Eye to Eye on CBS (1993–95), anchor of the CBS Sunday Night News (1995-1997), an original co-anchor on
Saturday Early Show (1997-2007, 2011), news anchor for the weekday edition of
The Early Show (2007-2010), anchor of the
CBS Sunday Evening News (2006-2011) and of the
CBS Saturday Evening News (1999-2009; & both Saturday and Sunday later 2010–2011). He also substituted for
Harry Smith,
Jane Robelot and
Mark McEwen on CBS
This Morning, the predecessor to the
Early Show, and was a correspondent on
CBS News Sunday Morning. He was also a primary substitute for
Dan Rather,
John Roberts,
Bob Schieffer,
Katie Couric and
Scott Pelley on
CBS Evening News. In December 2011, it was announced that he would move to Cleveland NBC affiliate
WKYC as lead anchor and executive editor of the 6 and 11pm newscasts, where he remains today.
Personal life Mitchell was married to Erica Townsend from 1987 to 2000. He married Karina Mahtani on December 2, 2006. They later divorced. == Honors and awards ==