Danielle Spencer, the former child star who brought sass and charm to the role of Dee Thomas on the hit 1970s sitcom What’s Happening!!, has died at the age of 60. She passed away on August 11, 2025, in Richmond, Virginia, following a long battle with cancer, her family confirmed.
Her What’s Happening!! co-star Haywood Nelson paid an emotional tribute, calling her “a brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior” who had “found her release from the clutches of this world.”
Born on June 24, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in the Bronx, Spencer was just 11 years old when she was cast as Dee — the wise-cracking younger sister whose famous line, “Ooooh, I’m gonna tell Mama!” became a pop-culture staple. She reprised the role in the 1980s sequel What’s Happening Now!! before stepping away from acting to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.
Spencer’s life was marked by extraordinary resilience. In 1977, she survived a car crash that claimed her stepfather’s life and left her in a coma for three weeks. Years later, she faced a series of health challenges, including spinal stenosis, breast cancer, and emergency brain surgery. Despite these hardships, she earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University in 1996 and built a career as a dedicated veterinarian and animal rights advocate.
Her contributions to television history were recognized in 2014, when she became the first child actor inducted into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Danielle Spencer is survived by her mother, Cheryl Pelt, and her brother, jazz musician Jeremy Pelt. Fans remember her not only for her comedic timing and quick wit on screen but also for her courage, determination, and compassion off it.
She was more than Dee Thomas,” Nelson said. “She was a light — and she will be deeply missed.
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