David Bridges
Highlights
- Legacy: Danielle Spencer, known for her role as Dee Thomas, passed away at age 60.
- Health Struggles: She battled cancer and faced numerous health issues stemming from a car accident in her youth.
- Career: Spencer was not only an actress but also a veterinarian and animal rights advocate.
- Memorials: Tributes pour in from co-stars and fans celebrating her contributions to television and beyond.
Danielle Spencer has passed away at age 60. The actress was best known for playing the wisecracking and tattling little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom ‘What’s Happening!!’ Spencer died Monday (August 11) after a yearslong battle with cancer. Family spokesperson Sandra Jones confirmed the news, per the Associated Press.
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What Health Issues Did Spencer Face?
In the production of ‘What’s Happening!!’s first season, Spencer was in a major car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. She was 12, and the accident left her in a coma for three weeks and killed her stepfather, Tim Pelt. For years after, she had to undergo multiple surgeries due to spinal and neurological problems.
In 2014, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. Additionally, in 2018, she had emergency surgery for a bleeding hematoma, which stemmed from her 1977 car crash. Immediately after, a family spokesperson said Danielle Spencer could only speak slightly and had to use crutches to walk. She had been suffering symptoms from at least 2004, when she had to use a wheelchair and relearn how to walk.
Why Is Danielle Spencer Remembered as Dee?
As Dee, Spencer was the smarter, more serious younger sister who offered a steady stream of deadpan roasts. Her victims of choice? Big brother Roger ‘Raj’ Thomas and his friends Dwayne Nelson and Freddie ‘Rerun’ Stubbs. “Ooh, I’m gonna tell mama,” would become Dee’s catchphrase.
The show was set in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. It was among the first on television to focus on the lives of Black teenagers. ‘What’s Happening!!’ was based on the movie ‘Cooley High’ and ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. It had a long legacy thanks to its memorable characters. The geeky Raj, the catchphrase-spouting Dwayne, the red-bereted dancing phenom Rerun, and Dee with her eyerolls and icy stare were on that list. Danielle Spencer also appeared as Dee on a mid-1980s reboot of the show, ‘What’s Happening Now!!,’ which ran for three seasons.
Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne, also confirmed Danielle’s death in an Instagram post on August 12. He started his caption by acknowledging her “brilliance.”
“Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body. We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer. We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, ‘What’s Happening’ cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero. Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced,” Nelson wrote.
What Did Danielle Spencer Do After the Show?
In her young adulthood, Spencer attended the University of California, Davis, and UCLA. She earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University in 1993 and became a veterinarian and animal advocate. Danielle continued to dabble in acting, including an appearance as a veterinarian in the 1997 Jack Nicholson film ‘As Good as it Gets.’
R.I.P. Danielle Spencer!
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Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this report.
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