Danielle Spencer, the former child star who played Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom What’s Happening!!, has died at the age of 60. Her career spanned acting and veterinary medicine, and she became a familiar face to audiences for her sharp wit and memorable catchphrase. Spencer’s life was marked by resilience through personal and health challenges.
Here’s what we know so far about Danielle Spencer’s death.
Danielle Spencer passes away at 60, claims report
Danielle Spencer, best known as Dee Thomas on What’s Happening!!, died August 11 in Richmond, Virginia.
She was 60. Sandra Jones, a family friend and spokesperson, confirmed to ABC News that the cause was gastric cancer and cardiac arrest. Her co-star Haywood Nelson told The Hollywood Reporter that Spencer “suffered for a very long time but did it with a great deal of courage.”
Spencer appeared in 65 episodes of What’s Happening!! from 1976 to 1979. She reprised the role in 16 episodes of its sequel, What’s Happening Now! from 1985 to 1988. She gained fame for her catchphrase, “Ooooh, I’m gonna tell Mama!” and survived a 1977 Malibu car crash that killed her stepfather, Tim Pelt. The crash left her hospitalized in intensive care for weeks.
After the sitcom, Spencer attended UC Davis and UCLA before enrolling at Tuskegee University. She earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1993. She worked as a veterinarian in Los Angeles for two decades. In 2014, she relocated to Richmond, where she presented a regular pet care segment for CBS affiliate WTVR-TV. In 1997, James L. Brooks cast her as a veterinarian in As Good as It Gets.
Spencer battled breast cancer in 2014 and underwent a double mastectomy. In 2018, she had emergency surgery for bleeding on the brain. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture inducted her in 2014.
Her brother, jazz musician Jeremy Pelt, said in an email to ABC News that she was “a very loving spirit who fought courageously until the very end.” On Instagram, he wrote, “Many of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ but she was more than a child actress… she was MY sister and protector.”
Her mother, Cheryl Pelt, and her brother survive her.
