So Dear to My Heart

So Dear to My Heart
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Harold D. Schuster Hamilton Luske
Produced by	Walt Disney Perce Pearce
Written by	Ken Anderson John Tucker Battle Marc Davis Bill Peet Maurice Rapf Ted Sears
Based on	Midnight and Jeremiah by Sterling North
Starring	Bobby Driscoll Luana Patten Beulah Bondi Burl Ives
Music by	Paul Smith
Cinematography	Winton C. Hoch
Edited by	Lloyd L. Richardson Thomas Scott
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Release date	January 19, 1949 (1949-01-19) (Premiere-Indianapolis) January 30, 1949 (1949-01-30) (U.S.)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million

So Dear to My Heart is a 1949 feature film produced by Walt Disney, whose world premiere was in Indianapolis on January 19, 1949, released by RKO Radio Pictures. Like 1946's Song of the South, the film combines animation and live action. It is based on the Sterling North book Midnight and Jeremiah.

Set in Indiana in 1903, the film tells the tale of Jeremiah Kincaid (Bobby Driscoll) and his determination to raise a black-wool lamb that was once rejected by its mother. Jeremiah names the lamb Danny for the famed race horse, Dan Patch (who is also portrayed in the film). Jeremiah's dream of showing Danny at the Pike County Fair must overcome the obstinate objections of his loving—yet tough—grandmother Granny (Beulah Bondi). Jeremiah's confidant, Uncle Hiram (Burl Ives), is the boy's steady ally. Inspired by the animated figures and stories, the boy perseveres.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Burl Ives's version of the 17th-century English folk song "Lavender Blue," but lost to "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter.

Bobby Driscoll received a special Juvenile Award from the Academy, honoring him as "the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949". (In addition to So Dear to My Heart, he had garnered critical acclaim for his dramatic performance in the RKO melodrama The Window.)