Dr. Danielle Louise Spencer, beloved for her wry turn as Dee Thomas on ABC’s 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!,” died Aug. 11 in Richmond, Va. She was 60. A family spokesperson confirmed she died after a battle with cancer, ABC News reports the cause of death as gastric cancer with cardiac arrest, citing a family friend and spokesperson Sandra Jones.
Born on June 24, 1965, raised in New York City’s Bronx, Spencer began acting around age 8. By 11, the child star was stealing scenes as the sharp?eyed little sister whose catchphrase, “Ooh, I’m gonna tell mama”, became part of TV lore. “What’s Happening!!” aired from 1976 to 1979 and later returned as “What’s Happening Now!!,” where Spencer reprised her role in the mid?1980s.
A defining turn in her life came in 1977. Spencer and her stepfather, Tim Pelt, were involved in a serious car crash on Pacific Coast Highway, Pelt was killed and Spencer was left in a three?week coma, injuries that led to long?term spinal and neurological challenges. She wrote candidly about the aftermath in her memoir, “Through The Fire… Journal of a Child Star”.
After her early acting success, Spencer pivoted toward science and service. She ultimately earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Tuskegee University in 1993 and practiced as a veterinarian, later relocating to the Richmond area in 2014. She also contributed pet?care segments for WTVR’s “Virginia This Morning.”
Spencer’s health struggles continued, a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2014, an emergency brain surgery in 2018 tied to complications from the 1977 accident, and bouts of spinal stenosis that at one point left her briefly paralyzed. Even so, she returned often to public life, discussing resilience and health with complete clarity.
Her legacy extended beyond television. In 2014, she became the first former child star included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, recognition she called “something people can look at for years to come.”
Tributes from colleagues and family captured the breadth of her life. Costar Haywood Nelson wrote, “Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body,” adding that she fought “a long battle with cancer.” ABC News published a statement from her brother, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt: she was “a very loving spirit who fought courageously until the very end.” He said he was with her when she took her last breath.
Spencer is survived by her mother, Cheryl Pelt, and her brother, Jeremy Pelt. She was preceded in death by her stepfather, Tim Pelt.
From sitcom sets to exam rooms, Dr. Danielle Spencer embodied reinvention, artist, healer, advocate. The kid who could stop a scene with a side?eye grew into a doctor who met pain with purpose, leaving behind a legacy of laughter, care, and grit.