Edward "Ward" Costello (July 5, 1919 - June 4, 2009) was an American actor, composer and lyricist. Costello was born in Boston. When he was young, he left home to go to sea, after which he was an itinerant worker on farms and ranches before he became a newspaper reporter in New York. Costello served in both the British Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the Second World War. He received the Silver Star and three Distinguished Flying Crosses. After he left the military, he was a foreign-news editor for CBS in New York.