Danielle Spencer, a former child star best known for her role on 1970s TV comedy What’s Happening!!, was among the names left out of this year’s “In Memoriam” Emmys segment.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards took place on Sunday, Sept. 14, in Los Angeles celebrating the best in American television.
Every year, the ceremony dedicates a segment to honor industry talents who died since the previous year’s event. A video tribute is shown, often accompanied by a musical performance.
This year’s televised tribute featured Vince Gill and Lainey Wilson performing Gill’s song “Go Rest High on That Mountain.”
Actress Phylicia Rashad opened the segment with a tribute to her on-screen Cosby Show son Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died in July, in an accidental drowning in Costa Rica.
Pictures and clips of other stars, including John Amos, Maggie Smith, Michelle Trachtenberg, choreographer Judith Jamison, Ozzy Osbourne, David Lynch, Quincy Jones, and Anne Burrell were among those shown as Gill and Wilson performed.
Related: ‘What’s Happening!!’ Star Danielle Spencer Remembered by Hollywood Friends at Celebration of Life
However, several names were not part of the televised segment, among them Danielle Spencer. The Television Academy posted the segment on YouTube and several of Spencer’s fans asked why she wasn’t included. “They forgot Danielle Spencer,” one person noted.
Instead, her name was listed in a longer “In Memoriam” list posted on the Emmys website.
Other notable figures left out of the TV segment included Oscar winner Gene Hackman, who earlier in his career appeared on several TV shows, as well as Val Kilmer, The Sopranos actor Jerry Adler, King of the Hill actor Jonathan Joss, and Smallville alum Terence Stamp.
The Emmys website explains, “Given only a few minutes to honor those who have passed, there is a limit on how many people can be acknowledged on the broadcasts.” But it doesn’t explain who gets to choose which artists are included on the televised version.
Spencer was best known to the public as “Dee” Thomas, the sassy young member of the Thomas family on the 1970s sitcom. She died on Aug. 11 at age 60 after battling cancer.
She began her career in bit parts before landing the sitcom role in 1976, at age 11. She appeared throughout the show’s run on ABC from 1976 to 1979.
After the series ended, Spencer moved with her mother to Africa. Later she returned to the U.S. to study veterinary medicine at UC Davis, and then trained at Tuskegee University Veterinary School, becoming a veterinarian.
In August, family and friends held a Celebration of Life ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, to honor her memory. Some of her Hollywood friends traveled to Richmond to say goodbye, including Kim Fields and Holly Robinson Peete.
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