Dr. Danielle Spencer, the former child star of ABC’s 1970s show, What’s Happening!!, died on Monday at the age of 60, according to her brother and former co-star, Jeremy Pelt.
“I lost a big part of myself,” Pelt wrote in an Instagram post. “After many years, my big sister, Dr. Danielle Louise Spencer lost her battle with cancer. Many of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ but she was more than a child actress.”
“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,” Spencer’s brother added.
Pelt went on to refer to his sister as his “protector,” adding, “My immediate family, of which there were only three of us, had an unusual knack for always being connected even if we weren’t always in contact with each other.”
Actor Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne on What’s Happening!!, also posted a tribute to Spencer on Instagram, writing, “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,” Nelson continued.
“We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What’s Happening cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine,” he added. “Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced.”
Nelson also told the Hollywood Reporter that Spencer died at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia.
Spencer, who played Dee Thomas on all three seasons of What’s Happening!!, reprised her role for the show’s sequel, What’s Happening Now!!, and went on to attend UC Davis and UCLA after the sequel was canceled, later obtaining a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University.
In 1977, Spencer survived a horrific car accident on a highway in Malibu thar claimed the life of her stepfather, Tim Pelt, who had been driving, the Hollywood Reporter noted.
She was also diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in 2014 and in 2018, as well as emergency surgery to relieve bleeding on her brain.
In addition to What’s Happening!!, some of Spencer’s other acting credits include the 1997 film, As Good As It Gets, an episode on the long-running soap opera, Days of Our Lives, and an appearance in the 2001 short, Peter Rabbit and the Crucifix, according to her IMDb page.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
