Danielle Spencer, an actress best known for her role on the 1970s TV comedy What’s Happening!!, has died. She was 60.
Spencer’s former co-star Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne Nelson on the sitcom, announced her death Tuesday, Aug. 12, on Instagram.
“Brilliance! It comes in a great many forms. We have them, and we all have this family’s — Dr. Danielle Spencer (June 24, 1965 – August 11, 2025),” Nelson wrote.
“Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and body. We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer,” Nelson shared. “We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What’s Happening cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer.”
Nelson told The Hollywood Reporter, “She suffered for a very long time, but did it with a great deal of courage.”
RELATED: Lynn Hamilton Dies: ‘Sanford and Son’ and Broadway Actress Was 95
Spencer was beloved by What’s Happening!! fans for her role as Dee Thomas, the sassy young member of the Thomas family. The series aired on ABC from 1976 to 1979.
The cast also included Ernest Thomas as Roger “Raj” Thomas, Fred Berry as Freddie “Rerun” Stubbs, Mabel King as Mabel “Mama” Thomas, and Shirley Hemphill as Shirley Wilson.
The show returned in 1985 as the sequel, What’s Happening Now!!, which aired in syndication for three seasons.
Spencer was badly injured during production of the second season of the original show in 1977. She and stepfather Tim Pelt were in a car accident, leaving Spencer in a coma and killing her stepfather.
“I don’t remember the hospital stay. I don’t remember almost that entire period,” she said on an episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? that aired in 2016. “However, of course, it changed my life. I broke my right leg and my right arm. I was in a coma for three weeks. I also broke my pelvis,” Spencer recalled.
“Fortunately for me, I had the whole summer to heal, and I was right back on the show for the final season,” she said.
Spencer later had complications from the crash injuries and suffered paralysis. Surgery and physical therapy helped her recover to walk again.
After What’s Happening!! ended its run, Spencer and her mother moved to Africa. She would return to the U.S. and enroll at the University of California, Davis, where she studied veterinary medicine, then attended Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Tuskegee, Alabama, becoming a veterinarian upon graduation.
In 2011, Spencer released a memoir titled Through The Fire…Journal of a Child Star.
Discover more from Urban Hollywood 411
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
