Danielle Spencer, best known as Dee Thomas on ‘What’s Happening!!’, died at 60 after a long illness.
Danielle Spencer, the child actress best known as the quick-witted little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom What’s Happening!!, has died at 60.
Her former co-star Haywood Nelson confirmed on Instagram that Spencer passed away on August 11 at a Richmond, Virginia, hospital after a long battle with cancer.
Born in 1965 and cast at about age 11, Spencer became a scene-stealer on the ABC series, which began as a summer replacement in 1976 and went on to run through 1979; she later reprised Dee in the sequel What’s Happening Now!! in the 1980s.
Fans remember her for the sharp-tongued, lovable kid who often threatened, “Ooooh, I’m gonna tell Mama!”
Her life after early fame was marked by both resilience and tragedy. During the show’s second season she survived a catastrophic car crash that killed her stepfather and left her in a three-week coma; she spent months in recovery.
In later years Spencer faced several serious health setbacks, including a breast-cancer diagnosis in 2014 and emergency surgery in 2018 to relieve a brain bleed.
Stepping away from acting in the 1990s, Spencer pursued veterinary medicine: she studied at UC Davis and earned a DVM from Tuskegee University in 1993, then worked as a veterinarian in the Los Angeles area for about two decades before relocating to Richmond in 2014.
She also wrote a memoir, Through the Fire … Journal of a Child Star, and later reunited with castmates for TV appearances that reflected on life after early stardom.
Spencer was married twice and co-hosted a podcast with her second husband, designer David L. David. She is survived by her mother, Cheryl Pelt, and her brother, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt; friends and former castmates have paid tribute across social media.
No further details about services have been released.
