Lady and the Tramp

Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated musical romantic comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. Based on Ward Greene's 1945 Cosmopolitan magazine story "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog", it was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wilfred Jackson. The film features the voices of Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom, Stan Freberg, Verna Felton, Alan Reed, George Givot, Dallas McKennon, and Lee Millar. The film follows Lady, the pampered cocker spaniel, as she grows from puppy to adult, deals with changes in her family, and meets and falls in love with the homeless mutt Tramp.

The inspiration for Lady and the Tramp originated in 1925 when Walt Disney presented his wife Lillian with a chow puppy in a hatbox. In 1937, Joe Grant, a storyboard artist, pitched to Disney an original idea as inspired by his English Springer Spaniel. Throughout the 1940s, the project underwent numerous story revisions, but it was shelved due to Disney's production of several package films. Grant left the Disney studios in 1949.

In 1952, Disney placed the project back into active development, and the final story was revised by Erdman Penner and Joe Rinaldi. The film's art direction was supervised by Claude Coats, who took inspiration from gingerbread architecture. Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke wrote the film's original songs, while Oliver Wallace composed the instrumental musical score. During production, Disney decided Lady and the Tramp would be the first animated film to be filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen film process. It was also Disney's first animated film to be distributed by their Buena Vista division following their split from RKO Radio Pictures.

Lady and the Tramp was released in theaters on June 22, 1955, and achieved box office success. While it initially received mixed reviews from critics, the film's critical reception has grown more favorable over time, and it is now regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time. The film launched a long-running Disney comic strip featuring Scamp. A direct-to-video sequel, titled Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, was released in 2001. A live-action/CGI hybrid remake premiered in 2019 as a launch title for the Disney+ streaming service. In 2023, Lady and the Tramp was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."