Danielle Spencer, the former child star who played sassy tattletale Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!,” has died. She was 60.
Spencer died Monday after she “lost her battle with cancer,” her brother, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, announced on Instagram. Spencer had suffered other health issues — including a bleeding hematoma — throughout her life.
“Many of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ but she was more than a child actress,” Pelt captioned the carousel of photos of his sister. “She was a friend, an auntie to my three children who adored her, she was a daughter — and in many ways, my mother’s best friend, she was a veterinarian, she was someone who always remained positive even during her darkest days fighting this disease.”
Pelt added: “She was MY sister and protector.”
Haywood Nelson, one of Spencer’s “What’s Happening!!” co-stars, told the Hollywood Reporter “she suffered for a very long time but did it with a great deal of courage.”
Spencer was best known for her work on “What’s Happening!!,” which aired on ABC from 1976 to 1979. The Watts-set sitcom followed a trio of teens and also featured Ernest Thomas, Fred Berry, Mabel King and Shirley Hemphill. Spencer portrayed the meddling younger sister to Thomas’ Roger “Raj” Thomas.
